Math anxiety interferes with learning novel mathematics contents in early elementary school.

Abstract

Whereas some evidence exists that math anxiety may interfere with math performance from the very
\nbeginning of primary school, no study to date has attempted to investigate whether math anxiety may also
\ninterfere with early math learning (i.e., the encoding of new math knowledge) and not only with recalling
\nalready mastered contents in test situations. Across 2 experiments carried out in 2 different countries
\n(Study 1: N 115, conducted in Italy; Study 2: N 120, conducted in the United Kingdom), we
\naddressed this question by presenting 6-year-old children with 2 math contents that had not been covered
\nby their school curriculum before the study. Children were tested immediately before and immediately
\nafter the learning phase, and after a 1-week delay. Longitudinal models revealed that math anxiety was
\nnegatively related to initial level of knowledge in the case of 3 out of 4 math contents. More importantly,
\nmath anxiety was also negatively related to rate of learning in 2 out of 4 tasks (1 task in Study 1 and 1
\nin Study 2). These studies provide the first evidence that math anxiety may reduce the encoding of novel
\nmath contents in memory in very young children, potentially leading to cumulative gaps in math
\nproficiency for children with math anxiety from the very beginning of their formal education.