Working memory,math performance,and math anxiety

The cognitive literature now shows how critically math performance depends on working memory, for any form of arithmetic and math that involves processes beyond simple memory retrieval. The psychometric literature is also very clear on the global consequences of mathematics anxiety. People who are highly math anxious avoid math: They avoid elective coursework in math, both in high school and college, they avoid college majors that emphasize math, and they avoid career paths that involve math. We go beyond these psychometric relationships to examine the cognitive consequences of math anxiety. We show how performance on a standardized math achievement test varies as a function of math anxiety, and that math anxiety compromises the functioning of working memory. High math anxiety works much like a dual task setting: Preoccupation with one’s math fears and anxieties functions like a resource-demanding secondary task. We comment on developmental and educational factors related to math and working memory, and on factors that may contribute to the development of math anxiety.     

数学焦虑影响儿童数学任务表现的作用机制探析

研究设计了心算加法和图形旋转/平移两类数学任务,同时采用《儿童数学焦虑问卷》、工作记忆和抑制任务,以探讨数学焦虑影响儿童数学任务表现的作用机制.213名小学五年级儿童参与研究,其中89人参与正式实验.结果发现:(1)数学焦虑与数学成绩呈显著负相关;(2)高数学焦虑组在工作记忆和两类数学任务中的得分均显著低于低数学焦虑组,而两组在抑制任务指标上差异不显著;(3)言语工作记忆和视空间工作记忆是数学焦虑影响心算加法任务的完全中介变量;视空间工作记忆是数学焦虑影响图形旋转/平移任务的完全中介变量,言语工作记忆是二者关系的调节变量.研究结果支持了加工效能理论.     

The development of strategy use in elementary school children: working memory and individual differences

The current study tested the development of working memory involvement in children's arithmetic strategy selection and strategy efficiency. To this end, an experiment in which the dual-task method and the choice/no-choice method were combined was administered to 10- to 12-year-olds. Working memory was needed in retrieval, transformation, and counting strategies, but the ratio between available working memory resources and arithmetic task demands changed across development. More frequent retrieval use, more efficient memory retrieval, and more efficient counting processes reduced the working memory requirements. Strategy efficiency and strategy selection were also modified by individual differences such as processing speed, arithmetic skill, gender, and math anxiety. Short-term memory capacity, in contrast, was not related to children's strategy selection or strategy efficiency.     

When high-powered people fail: working memory and "choking under pressure" in math

We examined the relation between pressure-induced performance decrements, or "choking under pressure," in mathematical problem solving and individual differences in working memory capacity. In cognitively based academic skills such as math, pressure is thought to harm performance by reducing the working memory capacity available for skill execution. Results demonstrated that only individuals high in working memory capacity were harmed by performance pressure, and, furthermore, these skill decrements were limited to math problems with the highest demands on working memory capacity. These findings suggest that performance pressure harms individuals most qualified to succeed by consuming the working memory capacity that they rely on for their superior performance.     

Information processing and reasoning with premises that are empirically false: Interference,working memory,and processing speed

In this study, we looked at the contributions of individual differences in susceptibility to interference and working memory to logical reasoning with premises that were empirically false (i.e., not necessarily true). A total of 97 university students were given a sentence completion task for which a subset of stimuli was designed to generate inappropriate semantic activation that interfered with the correct response, a measure of working memory capacity, and a series of logical reasoning tasks with premises that were not always true. The results indicate that susceptibility to interference, as measured by the error rate on the relevant subset of the sentence completion task, and working memory independently account for variation in reasoning performance. The participants who made more errors in the relevant portion of the sentence completion task also showed more empirical intrusions in the deductive reasoning task, even when the effects of working memory were partialed out. Working memory capacity was more clearly related to processes involved in generating uncertainty responses to inferences for which there was no certain conclusion. A comparison of the results of this study with studies of children's reasoning suggests that adults are capable of more selective executive processes than are children. An analysis of latency measures on the sentence completion task indicated that high working memory participants who made no errors on the sentence completion task used a strategy that involved slower processing speed, as compared with participants with similar levels of working memory who did make errors. In contrast, low working memory participants who made no errors on the sentence completion task had relatively shorter reaction times than did comparable participants who did make errors.     

数学焦虑对工作记忆子系统及数学心算的影响分析

本研究从工作记忆容量的角度入手,探讨数学焦虑对工作记忆子系统及数学心算成绩的影响,并寻求三者之间关系的理论解释。本研究为3×2×2混合实验设计,即三组被试（高、中、低数学焦虑组）、工作记忆两个子系统（言语工作记忆和视空间工作记忆）和两种数学心算任务难度,并记录数学心算的反应时和正确率作为其成绩指标。结果表明在要求较高工作记忆容量的数学心算任务中,数学焦虑通过言语工作记忆和视空间工作记忆都会对数学心算成绩产生影响,其中视空间工作记忆是数学焦虑与复杂数学心算反应时之间的中介变量。     

Individual working memory capacity is uniquely correlated with feature-based attention when combined with spatial attention

A growing literature suggests that working memory and attention are closely related constructs. Both involve the selection of task-relevant information, and both are characterized by capacity limits. Furthermore, studies using a variety of methodological approaches have demonstrated convergent working memory and attention-related processing at the individual, neural and behavioral level. Given the varieties of both constructs, the specific kinds of attention and WM must be considered. We find that individuals' working memory capacity (WMC) uniquely interacts with feature-based attention when combined with spatial attention in a cuing paradigm (Posner, 1980). Our findings suggest a positive correlation between WM and feature-based attention only within the spotlight of spatial attention. This finding lends support to the controlled attention view of working memory by demonstrating that integrated feature-based expectancies are uniquely correlated with individual performance on a working memory task.     

Working memory and inattentional blindness

Individual differences in working memory predict many aspects of cognitive performance, especially for tasks that demand focused attention. One negative consequence of focused attention is inattentional blindness, the failure to notice unexpected objects when attention is engaged elsewhere. Yet, the relationship between individual differences in working memory and inattentional blindness is unclear; some studies have found that higher working memory capacity is associated with greater noticing, but others have found no direct association. Given the theoretical and practical significance of such individual differences, more definitive tests are needed. In two studies with large samples, we tested the relationship between multiple working memory measures and inattentional blindness. Individual differences in working memory predicted the ability to perform an attention-demanding tracking task, but did not predict the likelihood of noticing an unexpected object present during the task. We discuss the reasons why we might not expect such individual differences in noticing and why other studies may have found them.     

学科领域知识和学业成绩对工作记忆广度的影响

引入Alexander领域知识概念形成数学学科领域知识,以七年级有理数单元为研究材料,编写问卷和E-Prime实验程序,筛选60名初中生为被试,考察数学学科领域知识和学业成绩对工作记忆广度的影响。研究发现:(1)学优生的认知过程知识和问题条件知识显著高于学困生,而学理内容知识差异不显著;(2)在简单加工任务上,学优生和学困生工作记忆广度差异不显著。在复杂任务上,学优生的工作记忆广度都显著高于学困生;(3)当工作记忆广度任务中存储部分的词语和数学学科领域知识相关时,问题条件知识分数和认知过程分数能够显著地预测工作记忆广度。而不相关时,仅问题条件知识分数能够显著地预测工作记忆广度。     

自我损耗对工作记忆的影响及其克服

实验1考察了自我损耗对工作记忆的影响。40名6年级小学生被随机分配到实验组和控制组,分别完成损耗任务和非损耗任务。结果发现,与控制组相比,实验组被试的工作记忆容量明显降低。实验2考察积极情绪能否克服自我损耗对工作记忆的负面影响。40名6年级小学生参加了实验。在完成损耗任务后,采用自传式回忆的方法诱发实验组的积极情绪。结果发现,诱发被试的积极情绪体验,能够克服自我损耗对于工作记忆的消极影响。     

A source activation theory of working memory: cross-task prediction of performance in ACT-R

Over the decades, computational models of human cognition have advanced from programs that produce output similar to that of human problem solvers to systems that mimic both the products and processes of human performance. In this paper, we describe a model that achieves the next step in this progression: predicting individual participants’ performance across multiple tasks after estimating a single individual difference parameter. We demonstrate this capability in the context of a model of working memory, where the individual difference parameter for each participant represents working memory capacity. Specifically, our model is able to make zero-parameter predictions of individual participants’ performance on a second task after separately fitting performance on a preliminary task. We argue that this level of predictive ability offers an important test of the theory underlying our model.     

An examination of the seductive details effect in terms of working memory capacity

Previous work on learning from text has demonstrated that although illustrated text can enhance comprehension, illustrations can also sometimes lead to poor learning outcomes when they are not relevant to understanding the text This phenomenon is known as the seductive details effect. The first experiment was designed to test whether the ability to control one's attention, as measured by working memory span tasks, would influence the processing of a scientific text that contained seductive (irrelevant) images, conceptually relevant images, or no illustrations. Understanding was evaluated using both an essay response and an inference verification task. Results indicated that low working memory capacity readers are especially vulnerable to the seductive details effect. In the second experiment, this issue was explored further, using eye-tracking methodology to evaluate the reading patterns of individuals who differed in working memory capacity as they read the same seductively illustrated scientific text Results indicated that low working memory individuals attend to seductive illustrations more often than not and, also, for a longer duration than do those individuals high in working memory capacity.     

第二语言语义提取中的工作记忆效应

本文报告一项针对工作记忆容量是否制约中国英语学习者第二语言语义提取效率的实验。实验考查了工作记忆广度中的个体差异是否抑制学习者对第二语言单词语义信息的提取问题,还探索了工作记忆广度和第二语言词汇知识水平的相关性。研究以通用容量工作记忆模型为基础,采用运算广度的工作记忆测试,得出工作记忆广度对单词语义信息的提取没有显著抑制作用的结果。结果还显示工作记忆广度与第二语言词汇知识水平之间没有显著的线性关系。     

Stereotype internalization and women’s math performance: The role of interference in working memory

It has long been argued that stigmatized individuals can ultimately internalize the stereotype alleging their inferiority. The present article investigated whether the internalization of the reputation of math inferiority that targets women can affect their math performance and whether this influence is caused by a disruption of working memory. A first study showed that stereotype endorsement had a significant impact on women’s statistic performance by lowering their self-evaluation of math ability even when controlling for prior achievement. A second study was designed to assess the possibility that the lower math performance displayed by women with low self-evaluation of math ability was due to interference in working memory. Using a dual task paradigm, this study showed that indeed women with low math self-evaluation displayed more errors and spent more time solving additions than women with high math self-evaluation, but mainly on difficult items of the dual task. The findings, which are congruent with an explanation in terms of a temporary disruption of working memory, are discussed.     

The influence of complex working memory span task administration methods on prediction of higher level cognition and metacognitive control of response times

Participants between the ages of 18 and 80 were tested on a complex working memory span task that was administered either using a typical experimenter-paced method or using a method in which the processing component was presented at a fixed, limited-pace presentation rate. Path analyses revealed that even after controlling for individual differences in general processing speed, the limited-pace task predicted unique variance in episodic memory, executive functioning, and fluid intelligence, whereas the experimenter-paced task did not. For the experimenter-paced task, slower responses on the processing component of the task were associated with better recall, but only when individual differences in processing speed were controlled. These findings suggest that metacognitive control of response times affects recall from working memory span tasks, as well as the relationship between span task recall and high-level cognition. These results support resource-sharing explanations of working memory and suggest that limiting processing times using computer pacing of complex span tasks can be an effective way to efficiently measure working memory capacity.     

Individuals lower in working memory capacity are particularly vulnerable to anxiety's disruptive effect on performance

Anxiety has a disruptive effect on performance in a number of domains. The purpose of this study was to determine whether individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity are related to an individual's susceptibility to anxiety's detrimental effect on performance. Fifty undergraduate students (28 females) were administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983) to measure trait anxiety and the automated operation span task to measure WM capacity (Unsworth, Heitz, Schrock, & Engle, 2005). Then, they performed a highly demanding dual-task that consisted of a primary short-term memory task and a secondary tone-discrimination task that served as a measure of spare capacity. Anxiety and WM capacity interacted to affect performance on the auditory task so that those low in WM capacity were particularly vulnerable to anxiety's disruptive effect, whereas those high in WM capacity were buffered against anxiety's effect. These findings suggest that WM capacity may be an important factor in determining which individuals underperform on anxiety-provoking tests such as scholastic achievement tests.     

竞技运动中的工作记忆

竞技运动中的工作记忆是竞技运动认知研究中较为成熟的一个领域, 对运动表现具有重要影响。现有研究主要涉及运动决策、运动表现失常和运动损伤三个方面。研究者以传统工作记忆容量测试对受试者进行容量大小区分后, 分配到决策任务中, 以了解工作记忆容量与决策表现间的关系。针对运动表现失常的研究表明, 刻板印象威胁造成的认知资源损耗降低了工作记忆容量, 为运动表现失常的解释与避免提供了新的思路。对暂时性脑震荡导致的工作记忆变化研究为进一步揭示工作记忆的脑机制提供了支持。虽然现有竞技运动中工作记忆的研究在数量上并不占优势, 但在研究成果上确实有可圈可点之处。     

From Janet T. Spence’s Manifest Anxiety Scale to the Present Day: Exploring Math Anxiety and its Relation to Math Achievement

Janet Taylor Spence conducted a great deal of foundational work establishing the negative relation between anxiety and performance. Spence operationalized trait anxiety by creating the Manifest Anxiety Scale, and she conducted numerous studies linking scores on this scale to performance across a variety of cognitive tasks. The field of math anxiety research has built from her work to examine the ways in which negative emotions regarding math can hinder math performance. We discuss the antecedents and development of math anxiety, as well as the ways in which other individual differences, such as working memory, affect the relation between anxiety and performance. Although a rich literature has sprung from Spence’s early work, there is much left to do in terms of fully understanding how specific types of anxiety interact with each other, as well as with other individual differences, to determine performance outcomes.     

Individual Differences in Susceptibility to Misinformation Effects and Hindsight Bias

The present study examined individual differences in susceptibility to two similar forms of memory distortion: the misinformation effect and hindsight bias. The misinformation effect occurs when individuals witness an event, are provided with misinformation, and recall the original event as containing elements of the misinformation. Hindsight bias occurs when individuals make judgments, are provided with feedback, and recall their original judgments as being more similar to the feedback than they actually were. Seventy-five participants completed a misinformation task, a hindsight bias task, and several individual difference measures related to memory distortions. Working memory capacity was negatively correlated with the misinformation effect and hindsight bias, and the misinformation effect and hindsight bias were negatively correlated with one another. Although the misinformation effect and hindsight bias are measured with similar designs, and both are predicted by working memory capacity, the negative correlation between them suggests these phenomena result from somewhat different processes.     

The Swedish Hayling task,and its relation to working memory,verbal ability,and speech‐recognition‐in‐noise

Cognitive functions and speech‐recognition‐in‐noise were evaluated with a cognitive test battery, assessing response inhibition using the Hayling task, working memory capacity (WMC) and verbal information processing, and an auditory test of speech recognition. The cognitive tests were performed in silence whereas the speech recognition task was presented in noise. Thirty young normally‐hearing individuals participated in the study. The aim of the study was to investigate one executive function, response inhibition, and whether it is related to individual working memory capacity (WMC), and how speech‐recognition‐in‐noise relates to WMC and inhibitory control. The results showed a significant difference between initiation and response inhibition, suggesting that the Hayling task taps cognitive activity responsible for executive control. Our findings also suggest that high verbal ability was associated with better performance in the Hayling task. We also present findings suggesting that individuals who perform well on tasks involving response inhibition, and WMC, also perform well on a speech‐in‐noise task. Our findings indicate that capacity to resist semantic interference can be used to predict performance on speech‐in‐noise tasks.