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Investigating the Effectiveness of a Math Interpretation Bias Intervention to Reduce Math Anxiety

Thu, April 11, 2:30 to 4:00pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Floor: Level 3, Room 305

Abstract

Math anxiety is a prevalent negative emotion that is linked with both math achievement (Barroso et al., 2021) and avoidance of math coursework (Choe et al., 2023). The cognitive inclination to process ambiguous stimuli as threatening, known as a negative interpretation bias, has been linked to the development and maintenance of generalized anxiety disorders (MacLeod & Mathews, 2012). These negative interpretation biases can be modified through intervention to reduce the experience of anxiety. Despite the potential of math-specific negative interpretation biases to act in a similar way to general interpretation biases and be targeted to reduce math-specific anxiety, this causal relation has not yet been tested.
In the present study, we tested the effects of a brief, one-time online math interpretation bias intervention on changes in math-specific interpretation biases, math anxiety, and math fluency in a sample of 182 college students. Students participated in a 1-hour online study. They completed pre-test measures of math-specific interpretation biases (adapted from Beard & Amir, 2008), math anxiety (Hopko et al., 2003), and a 1-minute math fluency test. We then randomly assigned participants into an experimental condition (N=89) or an active control condition (N=92). Participants in the experimental condition completed a math-specific interpretation bias modification task where they read 40 scenarios that engaged them with positive math-related outcomes. One word was missing a letter. Participants were tasked with filling in the missing letter and answering a relevant comprehension question to reinforce the positive math-related outcome. Participants in the active control condition completed a similar task 40 with non-math related scenarios (e.g., taking dog to the park). The intervention was delivered via Psytoolkit (Stoet, 2017). Participants then completed another math-specific interpretation bias scale, math anxiety scale, and a 1-minute math fluency test in the post-test section.
Correlation analyses with pre-test variables indicated no significant correlations between math fluency and both math anxiety (r=-.07) and math interpretation bias (r=-.03). A strong correlation was found between math anxiety and negative math interpretation bias (r=.67).
We conducted 3 mixed ANCOVA models to test the impact of time and the interaction between Time x Study Condition on each outcome. Gender was included as a covariate. We found significant effects of time (p<.001) and Time x Study condition interaction (p<.001) on negative math interpretation biases (Control: T1=-0.36, T2=-0.43; Experiment: T1=-0.45, T2=-1.10). We found a significant effect of the Time x Study condition interaction (p<.01) on math anxiety due to an increase in math anxiety in the control group (Control: T1=2.55, T2=2.67; Experiment: T1=2.50, T2=2.49). Only time had a significant effect on math fluency (overall T1=2.8; T2=2.8).
Our study findings suggest at least near-transfer effects of a brief math interpretation bias intervention on negative math interpretation biases in a sample of undergraduate students. Although we did not find an intervention effect on math anxiety, the strong correlation found between math anxiety and negative math interpretation biases suggests the continued potential for future work to develop a longer, possibly more engaging and meaningful math interpretation bias intervention to reduce math anxiety.

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