Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Apr 2015)

Mathematics anxiety reduces default mode network deactivation in response to numerical tasks

  • Belinda ePletzer,
  • Belinda ePletzer,
  • Martin eKronbichler,
  • Martin eKronbichler,
  • Martin eKronbichler,
  • Hans-Christoph eNuerk,
  • Hubert Hannes Kerschbaum,
  • Hubert Hannes Kerschbaum

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00202
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Mathematics anxiety is negatively related to mathematics performance, thereby threatening the professional success. Preoccupation with the emotional content of the stimuli may consume working memory resources, which may be reflected in decreased deactivation of areas associated with the default mode network (DMN) activated during self-referential and emotional processing. The common problem is that math anxiety is usually associated with poor math performance, so that any group differences are difficult to interpret.Here we compared the BOLD-response of 18 participants with high (HMAs) and 18 participants with low mathematics anxiety (LMAs) matched for their mathematical performance to two numerical tasks (number comparison, number bisection). During both tasks, we found stronger deactivation within the DMN in LMAs compared to HMAs, while BOLD-response in task-related activation areas did not differ between HMAs and LMAs. The difference in DMN deactivation between the HMA and LMA group was more pronounced in stimuli with additional requirement on inhibitory functions, but did not differ between number magnitude processing and arithmetic fact retrieval.

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