Working Memory and Its Mediating Role on the Relationship of Math Anxiety and Math Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

It is well established that math anxiety has a negative relationship with math performance (MP). A few theories have provided explanations for this relationship. One of them, the Attentional Control Theory (ACT), suggests that anxiety can negatively impact the attentional control system and increase one's attention to threat-related stimuli. Within the ACT framework, the math anxiety (MA)—working memory (WM) relationship is argued to be critical for math performance. The present meta-analyses provides insights into the mechanisms of the MA—MP relation and the mediating role of WM. Through database searches with pre-determined search strings, 1,346 unique articles were identified. After excluding non-relevant studies, data from 57 studies and 150 effect sizes were used for investigating the MA—MP correlation using a random-effects model. This resulted in a mean correlation of r = −0.168. The database search of WM as a mediator for the MA—MP relation revealed 15 effects sizes leading to a descriptive rather than a generalizable statistic, with a mean indirect effect size of −0.092. Overall, the results confirm the ACT theory, WM does play a significant role in the MA—MP relationship.

Role of executive functions in the relations of state‐ and trait‐math anxiety with math performance

“…In addition to the abundant literature showing the negative relationship between MA and WM, 5,33 there is also empirical evidence for a mediating role of WM capacity in the relationship between MA and math performance, [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] which was confirmed in a meta-analysis by Caviola et al, 5 albeit with very modest estimates in terms of magnitude (but see also Ref. 42 for an example of the absence of mediation).…”

“…This result is consistent with previous research specifically focused on this EF 64,65 and is also consistent more broadly with studies using WM tasks involving a continuous requirement to update information (see Refs. 5 and 33 for reviews). Neither switching nor inhibition were related to MA, which is in line with some studies using inhibition tasks 58,60 but not with other research reporting such a relation with inhibition 55,69 or switching tasks 50,52 .…”

“…Finally, in terms of task content, our study did not control for the influence of material type on MA. Although prior meta‐analyses have not found evidence that the type of material moderates the relationship between WM and MA (see the reviews by Finell et al 33 . for numerical versus non‐numerical information in WM tasks and Caviola et al 5 .…”

Task-based attentional and default mode connectivity associated with STEM anxiety profiles among university physics students

“…The objective of the present study was to extend the ACT framework to study the neurobiological associations between STEM-related anxiety and cognitive performance. Although the ACT framework has primarily been applied to the study of generalized anxiety, a recent meta-analysis demonstrated that math anxiety negatively impacts attentional control (Finell et al, 2022), confirming the relevance of ACT for STEM-related anxiety. Towards this end, we investigated STEM anxiety among undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory physics course.…”

The Arabic version of the modified-abbreviated math anxiety scale: Psychometric properties, gender differences, and associations with different forms of anxiety and math achievement

“…Research has reported a range of moderators, such as gender, grade level, geographical region, and measurement, which influence the relationship between math anxiety and math performance (for a meta-analysis see Zhang et al, 2019 ). One of the most investigated moderator is cognitive processing, such that math anxiety negatively impacts working memory, which is in turn, critical for math performance (for a meta-analysis, see Finell et al, 2022 ). However, the causal direction of the negative relationship between math anxiety and math performance is highly debatable ( Carey et al, 2016 ).…”