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Spatialization in working memory and its relation to math anxiety

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posted on 2022-02-11, 09:47 authored by Jean-Philippe van Dijck, Wim Fias, Krzysztof CiporaKrzysztof Cipora
Working memory (WM) is one of the most important cognitive functions that may play a role in the relation between math anxiety (MA) and math performance. The processing efficiency theory proposes that the rumination and worrisome thoughts (induced by MA) result in less available WM resources (which are needed to solve math problems). At the same time, high MA individuals have lower verbal and spatial WM capacity in general. Extending these findings, we found that MA is also linked to the spatial coding of serial order in verbal WM: Subjects who organize sequences from left-to-right in verbal WM show lower levels of MA compared to those who do not spatialize. Furthermore, these spatial coders have higher verbal WM capacity, better numerical order judgement abilities and higher math scores. These findings suggest that that spatially structuring the verbal mind is a promising cognitive correlate of the MA and opens new avenues for exploring causal links between elementary cognitive processes and the MA.

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Mathematics Education Centre

Published in

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Volume

1512

Issue

1

Pages

192-202

Publisher

Wiley

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© New York Academy of Sciences

Publisher statement

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: van Dijck, J-P., Fias, W. and Cipora, K., (2022). Spatialization in working memory and its relation to math anxiety. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1512 (1), pp.192-202, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14765. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.

Acceptance date

2022-02-10

Publication date

2022-03-10

Copyright date

2022

ISSN

0077-8923

eISSN

1749-6632

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Krzysztof Cipora. Deposit date: 10 February 2022

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