The neurodevelopmental basis of math anxiety

Math anxiety is a negative emotional reaction to situations involving mathematical problem solving. Math anxiety has a detrimental impact on an individual's long-term professional success, but its neurodevelopmental origins are unknown. In a functional MRI study on 7- to 9-year-old children, we showed that math anxiety was associated with hyperactivity in right amygdala regions that are important for processing negative emotions. In addition, we found that math anxiety was associated with reduced activity in posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex regions involved in mathematical reasoning. Multivariate classification analysis revealed distinct multivoxel activity patterns, which were independent of overall activation levels in the right amygdala. Furthermore, effective connectivity between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex regions that regulate negative emotions was elevated in children with math anxiety. These effects were specific to math anxiety and unrelated to general anxiety, intelligence, working memory, or reading ability. Our study identified the neural correlates of math anxiety for the first time, and our findings have significant implications for its early identification and treatment.     

Parental socioeconomic status and the neural basis of arithmetic: differential relations to verbal and visuo‐spatial representations

We examined the relation of parental socioeconomic status (SES) to the neural bases of subtraction in school‐age children (9‐ to 12‐year‐olds). We independently localized brain regions subserving verbal versus visuo‐spatial representations to determine whether the parental SES‐related differences in children's reliance on these neural representations vary as a function of math skill. At higher SES levels, higher skill was associated with greater recruitment of the left temporal cortex, identified by the verbal localizer. At lower SES levels, higher skill was associated with greater recruitment of right parietal cortex, identified by the visuo‐spatial localizer. This suggests that depending on parental SES, children engage different neural systems to solve subtraction problems. Furthermore, SES was related to the activation in the left temporal and frontal cortex during the independent verbal localizer task, but it was not related to activation during the independent visuo‐spatial localizer task. Differences in activation during the verbal localizer task in turn were related to differences in activation during the subtraction task in right parietal cortex. The relation was stronger at lower SES levels. This result suggests that SES‐related differences in the visuo‐spatial regions during subtraction might be based in SES‐related verbal differences.     

Brain activation while forming memories of fearful and neutral faces in women and men

Event-related functional MRI (fMRI) was used to assess brain activity during encoding of fearful and neutral faces in 12 women and 12 men. In a subsequent memory analysis, the authors separated successful from unsuccessful encoding of both types of faces, based on whether they were remembered or forgotten in a later recognition memory test. Overall, women and men recruited overlapping neural circuitries. Both sexes activated right-sided medial-temporal regions during successful encoding of fearful faces. Successful encoding of neutral faces was associated with left-sided lateral prefrontal and right-sided superior frontal activation in both sexes. In women, relatively greater encoding related activity for neutral faces was seen in the superior parietal and parahippocampal cortices. By contrast, men activated the left and right superior/middle frontal cortex more than women during successful encoding of the same neutral faces. These findings suggest that women and men use similar neural networks to encode facial information, with only subtle sex differences observed for neutral faces.     

Identity bifurcation in response to stereotype threat: Women and mathematics

Three studies explored women’s bifurcation of feminine identity as a response to threatening stereotypes in the domain of mathematics. Study 1 demonstrated that women in a math class who previously had completed a large number of math courses disavowed “feminine characteristics” strongly associated with stereotypes about women’s potential for math success (e.g., flirtatiousness, planning to have children) but not characteristics perceived to be weakly associated with these stereotypes (e.g., empathy, nurturance), more than women who had completed fewer math courses. Studies 2 and 3 directly manipulated stereotype threat by presenting a scientific article reporting stereotype-consistent sex differences in math aptitude. As predicted, women strongly identified with mathematics responded to this threatening article by disavowing feminine characteristics strongly associated, but not those weakly associated, with the relevant negative stereotypes, while women not strongly identified with mathematics showed no such differentiation in response. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Knowing is half the battle: teaching stereotype threat as a means of improving women's math performance

We tested whether informing women about stereotype threat is a useful intervention to improve their performance in a threatening testing situation. Men and women completed difficult math problems described either as a problem-solving task or as a math test. In a third (teaching-intervention) condition, the test was also described as a math test, but participants were additionally informed that stereotype threat could interfere with women's math performance. Results showed that women performed worse than men when the problems were described as a math test (and stereotype threat was not discussed), but did not differ from men in the problem-solving condition or in the condition in which they learned about stereotype threat. For women, attributing anxiety to gender stereotypes was associated with lower performance in the math-test condition but improved performance in the teaching-intervention condition. The results suggest that teaching about stereotype threat might offer a practical means of reducing its detrimental effects.     

Brain activations associated with shifts in response criterion on a recognition test.

Sensitivity and bias can be manipulated independently on a recognition test. The goal of this fMRI study was to determine whether neural activations associated with manipulations of a decision criterion would be anatomically distinct from neural activations associated with manipulations of memory strength and episodic retrieval. The results indicated that activations associated with shifting criteria (a manipulation of bias) were located in bilateral regions of the lateral cerebellum, lateral parietal lobe, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex extending from the supplementary motor area. These regions were anatomically distinct from activations in the prefrontal cortex produced during memory-based retrieval processes (manipulations of sensitivity), which tended to be more medial and anterior. These later activations are consistent with previous studies of episodic retrieval. Determining patterns of neural activations associated with decision-making processes relative to memory processes has important implications for Cognitive Neuroscience, including the use of these patterns to compare memory models in different paradigms.     

MATHEMATICS AND SELF-ESTEEM: IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN'S CAREER CHOICE

The relationship of math participation and success to self-esteem and career goals is examined in a sample of 64 women and 52 men college students at the end of their sophomore year. No gender differences were found in math anxiety or perceptions of the usefulness of mathematics, but women were less likely to select a math-related career goal. Among the men students, math participation and self-assessments of math ability were positively related to more general self-estimates of competence; among women, these variables were not related significantly. Women's choices for math-related careers were more closely associated with scholastic ability and math background than were men's career choices. These results are discussed in the context of societal pressures and supports for men and women in regard to math participation.     

The influence of maternal anxiety and depression symptoms on fNIRS brain responses to emotional faces in 5- and 7-month-old infants

Greater relative right (versus left) frontal cortical activation to emotional faces as measured with alpha power in the electroencephalogram (EEG), has been considered a promising neural marker of increased vulnerability to psychopathology and emotional disorders. We set out to explore multichannel fNIRS as a tool to investigate infants’ frontal asymmetry responses (hypothesizing greater right versus left frontal cortex activation) to emotional faces as influenced by maternal anxiety and depression symptoms during the postnatal period. We also explored activation differences in fronto-temporal regions associated with facial emotion processing. Ninety-one typically developing 5- and 7-month-old infants were shown photographs of women portraying happy, fearful and angry expressions. Hemodynamic brain responses were analyzed over two frontopolar and seven bilateral cortical regions subdivided into frontal, temporal and parietal areas, defined by age-appropriate MRI templates. Infants of mothers reporting higher negative affect had greater oxyhemoglobin (oxyHb) activation across all emotions over the left inferior frontal gyrus, a region implicated in emotional communication. Follow-up analyses indicated that associations were driven by maternal depression, but not anxiety symptoms. Overall, we found no support for greater right versus left frontal cortex activation in association with maternal negative affect. Findings point to the potential utility of fNIRS as a method for identifying altered neural substrates associated with exposure to maternal depression in infancy.     

Revisiting the role of the prefrontal cortex in the pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Most neural models for the pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have centered on the prefrontal cortex and its interconnections with the striatum and other subcortical structures. However, research only partially supports these models, and they do not correspond with the development of the prefrontal cortex and its interrelated neurocircuitry. The neural and functional development of the prefrontal cortex more closely parallels recovery from ADHD as indicated by the developmental remission of symptomatology. The authors hypothesize that ADHD is due to noncortical dysfunction that manifests early in ontogeny, remains static throughout the lifetime, and is not associated with the remission of symptomatology. Data supporting this neurodevelopmental model of prefrontal cortex function in ADHD are reviewed. Research and treatment implications are discussed.     

Patterns of neural response to emotive stimuli distinguish the different symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder

Despite its heterogeneous symptomatology, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is currently conceptualized as a unitary diagnostic entity. Recent factor-analytic studies have identified several OCD symptom dimensions that are associated with different demographic variables, comorbidity, patterns of genetic transmission, and treatment response. Functional abnormalities in neural systems important for emotion perception, including the orbitofrontal cortex, lateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, and limbic regions, have been reported in OCD. In this review, we discuss the extent to which neurobiological markers may distinguish these different symptom dimensions and whether specific symptom dimensions, such as contamination/washing, are associated with abnormalities in emotion and, in particular, disgust, perception in OCD. Also discussed are findings that indicate that anxiety can be induced in healthy volunteers in response to OCD symptom-related material, and that associated increases in activity within neural systems important for emotion perception occur to washing- and hoarding-related material in particular in these subjects. Further examination of neural responses during provocation of different symptom dimensions in OCD patients will help determine the extent to which specific abnormalities in neural systems underlying emotion perception are associated with different symptom dimensions and predict treatment response in OCD.     

Developmental shifts in fMRI activations during visuospatial relational reasoning

To investigate maturational plasticity of fluid cognition systems, functional brain imaging was undertaken in healthy 8-19 year old participants while completing visuospatial relational reasoning problems similar to Raven's matrices and current elementary grade math textbooks. Analyses revealed that visuospatial relational reasoning across this developmental age range recruited activations in the superior parietal cortices most prominently, the dorsolateral prefrontal, occipital-temporal, and premotor/supplementary cortices, the basal ganglia, and insula. There were comparable activity volumes in left and right hemispheres for nearly all of these regions. Regression analyses indicated increasing activity predominantly in the superior parietal lobes with developmental age. In contrast, multiple anterior neural systems showed significantly less activity with age, including dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal, paracentral, and insula cortices bilaterally, basal ganglia, and particularly large clusters in the midline anterior cingulate/medial frontal cortex, left middle cingulate/supplementary motor cortex, left insula-putamen, and left caudate. Findings suggest that neuromaturational changes associated with visuospatial relational reasoning shift from a more widespread fronto-cingulate-striatal pattern in childhood to predominant parieto-frontal activation pattern in late adolescence.     

Orbitofrontal cortex and dynamic filtering of emotional stimuli

Event-related potentials (ER) were recorded in response to mildly aversive somatosensory and auditory stimuli. Patients with orbitofrontal lesions exhited enhanced ERPs (i.e., P3 amplitudes), as compared with control subjects. Moreover, these patients did not habituate to somatoensory stimuli across blocks of trials. The results were specific to orbitofrontal damage, since patients with damage to the dorsolateral prefontal cortex did not exhibit enhanced P3 amplitudes. These findings suggest damage to the orbitofrontal cortex impairs the ability to modulate or inhibit neural responses to aversive stimuli. The findings are couched in terms of dynamic filtering theory, which suggests that the orbitofrontal cortex is involved in the selection and active inhibition of neural circuits associated with emotional responses.     

Neuroanatomical correlates of performance in a state‐wide test of math achievement

The development of math skills is a critical component of early education and a strong indicator of later school and economic success. Recent research utilizing population‐normed, standardized measures of math achievement suggest that structural and functional integrity of parietal regions, especially the intraparietal sulcus, are closely related to the development of math skills. However, it is unknown how these findings relate to in‐school math learning. The present study is the first to address this issue by investigating the relationship between regional differences in grey matter (GM) volume and performance in grade‐level mathematics as measured by a state‐wide, school‐based test of math achievement (TCAP math) in children from 3rd to 8th grade. Results show that increased GM volume in the bilateral hippocampal formation and the right inferior frontal gyrus, regions associated with learning and memory, is associated with higher TCAP math scores. Secondary analyses revealed that GM volume in the left angular gyrus had a stronger relationship to TCAP math in grades 3–4 than in grades 5–8 while the relationship between GM volume in the left inferior frontal gyrus and TCAP math was stronger for grades 5–8. These results suggest that the neuroanatomical architecture related to in‐school math achievement differs from that related to math achievement measured by standardized tests, and that the most related neural structures differ as a function of grade level. We suggest, therefore, that the use of school‐relevant outcome measures is critical if neuroscience is to bridge the gap to education.     

Neural basis responsible for self-control association with procrastination: Right MFC and bilateral OFC functional connectivity with left dlPFC

Converging theory and evidence highlights procrastination as a form of self-control failure. However, the underlying neural correlates of how self-control is associated with procrastination remains unclear. As such we investigated the neural basis for self-control association with procrastination using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) approaches. The VBM results showed a positive correlation between self-control and the gray matter volume of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Then the FC of left dlPFC to lateral orbital frontal cortex (lOFC) and right dorsal medial frontal cortex (dMFC) were all negatively correlated to procrastination and showed a mediating effect. This indicates that brain functional communication involves in emotion regulation and valuation processing may account for the association between self-control and procrastination.     

Functional magnetic resonance imaging responses relate to differences in real-world social experience

Although neuroimaging techniques have proven powerful in assessing neural responses, little is known about whether scanner-based neural activity relates to real-world psychological experience. A joint functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)/experience-sampling study investigated whether individual differences in neurocognitive reactivity to scanner-based social rejection related to: (a) moment-to-moment feelings of social rejection during real-world social interactions ("momentary social distress") and (b) the extent to which these momentary feelings corresponded with end-of-day global assessments of social disconnection ("end-of-day social disconnection"). Individuals who showed greater activity in regions associated with affective and pain processing (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, periaqueductal gray) during scanner-based social rejection reported feeling greater momentary social distress during their daily social interactions. In contrast, individuals who showed greater activity in regions associated with memory and self-referential memory encoding (hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex) showed a stronger correspondence between momentary social distress and end-of-day social disconnection, such that greater momentary social distress was associated with greater end-of-day social disconnection. These findings complement previous work showing a dissociation between momentary and retrospective reports of affect and suggest that these processes rely on dissociable neural systems.     

Trait anxiety and the neural efficiency of manipulation in working memory

The present study investigates the effects of trait anxiety on the neural efficiency of working memory component functions (manipulation vs. maintenance) in the absence of threat-related stimuli. For the manipulation of affectively neutral verbal information held in working memory, high- and low-anxious individuals (N = 46) did not differ in their behavioral performance, yet trait anxiety was positively related to the neural effort expended on task processing, as measured by BOLD signal changes in fMRI. Higher levels of anxiety were associated with stronger activation in two regions implicated in the goal-directed control of attention--that is, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and left inferior frontal sulcus--and with stronger deactivation in a region assigned to the brain's default-mode network--that is, rostral-ventral anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, anxiety was associated with a stronger functional coupling of right DLPFC with ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. We interpret our findings as reflecting reduced processing efficiency in high-anxious individuals and point out the need to consider measures of functional integration in addition to measures of regional activation strength when investigating individual differences in neural efficiency. With respect to the functions of working memory, we conclude that anxiety specifically impairs the processing efficiency of (control-demanding) manipulation processes (as opposed to mere maintenance). Notably, this study contributes to an accumulating body of evidence showing that anxiety also affects cognitive processing in the absence of threat-related stimuli.     

The neural circuitry of conversion disorder and its recovery

Little is understood about neural networks associated with conversion disorders. This case study reports the first investigation of the neural circuitry associated with the recovery of chronic conversion disorder. A patient with a four year history of hysterical mutism was assessed with functional MRI (fMRI) during a vocalization task, and then provided psychotherapy that attempted to reduce motivational factors that maintained mutism. The patient resumed full speech, and was readministered the fMRI vocalization task. Vocalization during mutism and following recovery of speech resulted in increases in speech-related networks, including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), middle frontal, and supplementary motor area of the frontal cortex, temporal and parietal cortices, and also in the primary and sensory motor regions. Following speech recovery but not during mutism, the IFG was correlated positively with the anterior cingulate cortex and negatively with the amygdala. This pattern suggests that during the conversion disorder there was impaired connectivity between speech networks and networks that regulate anxiety.     

Self-Affirmation in Occupational Training: Effects on the Math Performance of French Women Nurses under Stereotype Threat

This study examined the conditions affecting the math performance of French female student nurses in a setting where they were likely to experience stereotype threat (supposedly poor scientific skills), but in a context which enhanced their status as women and strengthened their self-affirmation. We hypothesized that self-affirmation through their nursing identity would deflect the negative impact of the stereotype threat on performance and would reduce the threat’s harmful impact on attentional processes, as reflected in perceived stress, perceived concentration and self-estimate of performance. Ninety-five female students enrolled in a nursing school in France carried out a dosage calculation—a typical nursing task—which drew directly on their math skills. They were assigned to one of four experimental conditions: 2 (threat: task presented as being diagnostic of women’s difficulty in math calculation compared to men vs. no threat: task presented as a typical nursing-school exercise) x 2 (self-affirmation: choosing from a list and describing the most important characteristics for them as women and as nurses vs. control condition: same task but for the characteristics that were least important for them but important for other people). As expected, under stereotype threat relating to their math skills, women performed better under the self-affirmation condition than under the control condition. However, this improved performance was associated with a lower self-estimate of their performance. We discuss the consequences, in this specific occupational and cultural context, on the way women can overcome the negative impact of gender stereotypes.     

认知重评和表达抑制情绪调节策略的脑网络分析：来自EEG和ERP的证据

本文旨在对认知重评和表达抑制两种常用情绪调节策略的自发脑网络特征及认知神经活动进行深入探讨。研究采集36名在校大学生的静息态和任务态脑电数据, 经过源定位和图论分析发现节点效率与两种情绪调节显著相关的脑区, 以及脑区之间的功能连接。研究结果表明, 在使用认知重评进行情绪调节时会激活前额叶皮质、前扣带回、顶叶、海马旁回和枕叶等多个脑区, 在使用表达抑制进行情绪调节时会激活前额叶皮质、顶叶、海马旁回、枕叶、颞叶和脑岛等多个脑区。因此, 这些脑区的节点效率或功能连接强度可能成为评估个体使用认知重评和表达抑制调节情绪效果的指标。