Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Cereb Cortex. 2012 Sep;22(9):2102-10. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhr289. Epub 2011 Oct 20.
Anxiety about math is tied to low math grades and standardized test scores, yet not all math-anxious individuals perform equally poorly in math. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to separate neural activity during the anticipation of doing math from activity during math performance itself. For higher (but not lower) math-anxious individuals, increased activity in frontoparietal regions when simply anticipating doing math mitigated math-specific performance deficits. This network included bilateral inferior frontal junction, a region involved in cognitive control and reappraisal of negative emotional responses. Furthermore, the relation between frontoparietal anticipatory activity and highly math-anxious individuals' math deficits was fully mediated (or accounted for) by activity in caudate, nucleus accumbens, and hippocampus during math performance. These subcortical regions are important for coordinating task demands and motivational factors during skill execution. Individual differences in how math-anxious individuals recruit cognitive control resources prior to doing math and motivational resources during math performance predict the extent of their math deficits. This work suggests that educational interventions emphasizing control of negative emotional responses to math stimuli (rather than merely additional math training) will be most effective in revealing a population of mathematically competent individuals, who might otherwise go undiscovered.
对数学的焦虑与低数学成绩和标准化考试分数有关，但并非所有数学焦虑的个体在数学方面的表现都同样差。我们使用功能磁共振成像技术，将数学预期过程中的神经活动与实际数学表现过程中的活动区分开来。对于（但不限于）数学焦虑程度较高的个体，在仅仅预期做数学时，额顶区域的活动增加，减轻了特定于数学的表现缺陷。该网络包括双侧额下回连接点，这是一个与认知控制和对负面情绪反应的重新评价有关的区域。此外，额顶预期活动与高度数学焦虑个体的数学缺陷之间的关系，完全由数学表现期间尾状核、伏隔核和海马体的活动所介导（或解释）。这些皮质下区域对于协调技能执行期间的任务需求和动机因素非常重要。在做数学之前，数学焦虑个体招募认知控制资源的个体差异，以及在数学表现期间的动机资源，预测了他们数学缺陷的程度。这项工作表明，强调对数学刺激的负面情绪反应进行控制（而不仅仅是额外的数学训练）的教育干预措施，将在揭示那些原本可能不被发现的数学能力较强的个体方面最为有效。
