Anxiety, working memory, gender, and math performance

Abstract

This investigation evaluated the relations between visual and verbal working memory; state, trait, and math anxiety; gender; and applied and basic math performance in 100 adults. The design tested predictions regarding which subsystem of working memory is associated with both math anxiety and math performance. The study also tested whether the Processing Efficiency Theory and the Arousal-Performance Function apply to anxiety and performance in the math domain. In addition, gender differences in the relations between math anxiety and math performance were explored. Results indicated that math anxiety was the strongest predictor of both applied and basic math performance. However, this finding was moderated by the gender of the participants. Both visual and verbal working memory were found to be significant factors in accounting for the variance in math performance measured broadly, differing from findings in previous studies. Math anxiety appears to primarily impact visual working memory, contradicting previous findings that anxiety is primarily processed in verbal working memory and supporting the hypothesis that math anxiety does not function similarly to other types of anxiety. In addition, results supported the Processing Efficiency Theory but did not support the Arousal-Performance Function relating math anxiety and math performance.

Introduction

Math performance is considered to be an important aspect of academic achievement tests (e.g., the Woodcock–Johnson (Woodcock & Johnson, 1990); the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (Psychological Corporation, 1992); the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (Hoover, Dunbar, & Frisbie, 2001); the SAT (College Board, 1995); the ACT (American College Testing Program, 1984); and the GRE (Education Testing Service, 1994)). In addition, math ability is a component of many intelligence theories (e.g., Gustafsson, 1984; Horn & Cattell, 1966; Thurstone, 1938), and intelligence measures (e.g., the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Wechsler, 1981), the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale (Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler, 1986); and the Woodcock–Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities (Woodcock & Johnson, 1990)). Understanding which factors account for differences in math performance, then, has important implications for predicting performance on these measures.

Past research has investigated the underlying cognitive processes that contribute to individual differences in math ability, the most investigated of which appears to be working memory. Several studies have shown that the processes involved in working memory, namely, temporary retrieval, processing, and storage, explain much of the variance in math ability (e.g., Adams & Hitch, 1998; Ashcraft, 1995; Brainerd, 1983; Geary & Widaman, 1987; Hitch, 1978). Individuals who are more efficient and adept in carrying out these processes are likely to perform better on tests of math ability.

Another often-researched factor proposed to account for differences in math ability is gender. Theorists have argued about whether findings of an advantage for males over females are the result of an inherent difference in math ability or the influence of sex-based stereotypes (see Hyde, Fennema, Ryan, Frost, & Hopp, 1990, for a review). It is important to note that the effect sizes reported for the relation between gender and math performance have been small (see Hyde et al., 1990, for a meta-analysis, and Leahey & Guo, 2001, for examination of a large data set).

A third factor that appears to account for differences in math performance is anxiety. Hembree’s (1990) meta-analysis examining math anxiety found that female students consistently reported higher levels of math anxiety than their male counterparts. However, this higher level of anxiety was not found to hinder math performance in females. Rather, math performance in pre-college males was affected more by their levels of math anxiety than math performance in pre-college females. The present study addresses whether gender moderates anxiety’s relation to different types of math performance.

There are two general types of anxiety, trait and state. Individuals experiencing trait anxiety have a characteristic tendency to feel anxious across all types of situations (Sorg & Whitney, 1992). In contrast, individuals possessing state anxiety tend to experience it only in specific personally stressful or fearful situations.

The results of several studies demonstrate that both state and trait anxiety affect task performance (e.g., Leon & Revelle, 1985; MacLeod & Donnellan, 1993; Sorg & Whitney, 1992). In general, these studies have found that individuals with high trait anxiety show poorer performance on various tasks than low trait anxiety individuals. This difference tends to be exacerbated in a high state anxiety condition.

In addition to the two general types of anxiety, there exist more specific types of anxiety, including math and test anxiety. Hembree (1990) found that math anxiety is related to both trait and state anxiety, as well as to test anxiety. Although math anxiety and test anxiety were related, however, the amount of shared variance was moderate (r²=0.27), suggesting that math anxiety is not purely a consequence of anxiety over being tested.