| According to Siegler (1996), we can explore the field of cognitive strategy by investingthe mathematical cognitive strategy. In recent years, many studies have demonstrated thatindividuals’mathematical performance may depend on the cognitive strategies they use, andresearchers have learned that arithmetic strategy is influenced by math anxiety. Math anxiety isdefined as a negative reaction to math and to mathematical situations. In Richardson andSuinn’s (1972) words, it is“…a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferfes with themanipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety ofordinary life and academic situations”.This study palned to use a novel paradigm in strategy change study, the choice/no choicemethod, to investigate how anxiety and cognitive processes interact and explored if mathanxiety affect individuals’arithmetic performance through acting on their strategy utilization(including strategy distribution, strategy selection, strategy execution aspects et al.). This studyused both behavioral method and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) technique with complexaddition production tasks.The results showed that:(1) In behavioral study, the behavioral indicators (such as reaction time and accuracy) didnot produce significant math anxiety effect in any conditions.(2) In the ERP experiment, event-related potentials were used to investigate the neuralcorrelates of math anxiety effect in performing two-digit exact and approximate additioncalculations. Potentials related to high and low math anxiety individuals were analyzedrespectively. The results were as follows:In the choice conditions (xsc1.gsc1), (a) N100 amplitude elicited by high-math anxietyindividuals was larger than that elicited by low-math anxiety individuals both in exact andapproximate addition calculation conditions. (b) In the mental calculation task, a later N100peak latency was elicited by high-math anxiety individuals than by low-math anxietyindividuals, however, in the computational estimation task, N100 peak latencies elicited by different levels of math anxiety were not significantly different. (c) In the computationalestimation task, the high-math anxiety individuals elicited a larger N400 amplitude than thelow-math anxiety individuals did, but the significant math anxiety effect did not present in themental calculation task. (d) A shorter N400 peak latency was found in the high-math anxietyindividuals as compared with the low-math anxiety individuals both in exact and approximateaddition calculation conditions. These findings suggest that a significant math anxiety effectwas presented at both the arithmetic coding and strategy utilization stage of arithmeticcognitive processing.In the no choice-mental calculation conditions (xsc2.xsc3), potentials related to high andlow math anxiety individuals were analyzed, results showed that the amplitudes of N400 weresignificantly different. These findings indicate a significant math anxiety effect at the strategyutilization stage.In the no choice- computational estimation conditions (gsc2.gsc3), the amplitude of N100was enhanced for high-math anxiety individuals, the latency of P200 was delayed forhigh-math anxiety individuals. These findings suggested that a significant math anxiety effectwas present in the strategy utilization stage.To sum up, the following conclusions were drawn:(1) The difference of N1-P2 complex waves between high- and low-math anxietyindividuals certified that math anxiety had an effect on number encoding, and its influencemight be limited by the task requirements.(2) There were significant difference between high- and low-math anxiety individuals inthe stage of strategy utilization, further more, the difference of N400 reflects the greaterworking memory load for high-mathematics anxiety individuals.(3) It is feasible to explore the effect of mathematics anxiety with the ERP technique. |
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