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This study characterises a previously unstudied facet of a major causal model of math anxiety. The model posits that impaired “basic number abilities” can lead to math anxiety, but what constitutes a basic number ability remains underdefined. Previous work has raised the idea that our perceptual ability to represent quantities approximately without using symbols constitutes one of the basic number abilities. Indeed, several recent studies tested how participants with math anxiety estimate and compare non-symbolic quantities. However, little is known about how participants with math anxiety perform arithmetic operations (addition and subtraction) on non-symbolic quantities. This is an important question because poor arithmetic performance on symbolic numbers is one of the primary signatures of high math anxiety. To test the question, we recruited 92 participants and asked them to complete a math anxiety survey, two measures of working memory, a timed symbolic arithmetic test, and a non-symbolic “approximate arithmetic” task. We hypothesised that if impaired ability to perform operations was a potential causal factor to math anxiety, we should see relationships between math anxiety and both symbolic and approximate arithmetic. However, if math anxiety relates to precise or symbolic representation, only a relationship between math anxiety and symbolic arithmetic should appear. Our results show no relationship between math anxiety and the ability to perform operations with approximate quantities, suggesting that difficulties performing perceptually based arithmetic operations do not constitute a basic number ability linked to math anxiety.
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This content will become publicly available on August 7, 2026
The transfer effect of mental rotation training on arithmetic skill: The role of state anxiety and arithmetic strategy use.
Spatial skills in early childhood are key predictors of mathematical achievement. Previous studies have found that training mental rotation can transfer to arithmetic skills; however, some studies have failed to replicate this transfer effect, or observed transfer effects only in certain types of arithmetic problems. Even in studies where transfer effects were observed, the underlying mechanisms of this transfer have not been explored. This study focused on the effect of short-duration (i.e., single-session) spatial training on arithmetic skills, and tested two underlying mechanisms. First, based on the spatial modeling account, short-duration spatial training may prime spatial processing, leading to a reduction in the use of counting strategies and an increase in spatially-related strategies following spatial training. Second, from a social-psychological account, short-duration spatial training may reduce children’s state anxiety, thus allowing them more cognitive resources in spatial and arithmetic tasks. We tested these mechanisms among 80 U.S. second- and third-graders using a pretest-intervention-posttest design, with 40 children in the spatial training group and 40 in an active control group. Short-duration spatial training improved children’s overall arithmetic performance; this effect did not differ by problem type (conventional, missing-term, or two-step problems). Spatial training also reduced children’s use of counting strategies. However, we did not find a significant increase in spatially-related strategies, nor did we observe a significant reduction in state anxiety. This study makes an important contribution to understanding the mechanisms underlying the transfer effects of short-duration spatial training on arithmetic skills, providing partial support for the spatial modeling account.
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- PAR ID:
- 10627420
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Developmental Psychology
- ISSN:
- 0012-1649
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Spatial skills mental rotation training arithmetic skill arithmetic strategy transfer effect
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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