Relations Between Math Anxiety and Error Monitoring in an Approximate Number Sense Task

• In Event: Metacognition, Monitoring, and Mindfulness: Insights From Educational Neuroscience

Abstract

Math anxiety (MA) refers to the negative emotional responses when dealing with numbers or math-related problems, which can impede mathematics performance. Increasing evidence suggests that math anxiety is related to a deficit in cognitive control. The error-related negativity (ERN) is a widely recognized neural component of error monitoring, a subconstruct of cognitive control, and an elevated ERN has been linked with a high level of math anxiety. By examining electroencephalogram (EEG) from fifty-eight undergraduates (Mage = 19.45, Nmale = 27) while they engaged in an Approximate Number Sense (ANS) task, the current study offers the first evidence suggesting that an ERN occurs following error commission on the ANS task, which measures both cognitive control and fundamental number processing.

Authors

• Keye Xu, University of California - Los Angeles

• Patricia Tan, University of California - Los Angeles

• Jennie K. Grammer, University of Virginia