Does anxiety explain why math-anxious people underperform in math?

ABSTRACT: Math-anxious people consistently underperform in math. The most widely accepted explanation for why this underperformance occurs is that math-anxious people experience heightened anxiety when faced with math, and this in-the-moment anxiety interferes with performance. Surprisingly, this explanation has not been tested directly. Here, using both self-report and physiological indices of anxiety, we directly test how much in-the-moment anxiety explains math-anxious underperformance. Results indicate that in-the-moment anxiety indeed explains why math-anxious people underperform—but only partially, suggesting a need to seriously consider alternative mechanisms. Results also showed that while some highly math-anxious individuals—those with high levels of heart rate variability—experienced less

SUBMITTER: Daker R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10030629 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature