Does Mathematics Anxiety Moderate the Effect of Problem Difficulty on Pupil Dilation?

• In Event: Motivational and Cognitive Processes in Mathematics Across Secondary School and College

Abstract

This study investigated whether mathematics anxiety (MA) moderates the effect of arithmetic problem difficulty on pupil dilation. 34 university students from Norway completed a multiplication task with three difficulty levels while their pupil sizes were measured with an eye tracker. Further, the participants reported their MA using a questionnaire, and arithmetic competence, intelligence, and working memory were measured with paper-pencil tasks. The linear mixed model analyses showed that the difficulty level on the multiplication problems affected the pupil size – the harder that problem, the larger the pupil size – in line with prior research. However, we did not find a moderating effect of MA on pupil size, when controlling for arithmetic competence, general intelligence, and working memory.

Authors

• Terje Ulv Throndsen, University of Oslo

• Marcus Lindskog, Uppsala University

• Markku Niemivirta, University of Eastern Finland

• Riikka Mononen, University of Oulu