Math Anxiety Impairs Detection of Math-Related Words in the Attentional Blink Paradigm: Attentional Blink in Math-Anxious Individuals

Details

Supervisors

Geers, Laurie ; Masson, Nicolas

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité approfondie

Abstract

enMath anxiety is a prevalent emotional response that interferes with numerical performance and cognitive processing, yet its impact on attentional dynamics under temporal constraints remains underexplored. This study investigated whether individuals with high math anxiety display altered attentional processing of math-related stimuli during an Attentional Blink (AB) task. Two experiments were conducted using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigms, where participants identified two target words (T1 and T2) under varying temporal lags. In Experiment 1 (N = 57), T2 was either a math-related or neutral word. Results showed that math-related words were generally detected more accurately than neutral ones, but this advantage was diminished in participants with high math anxiety, particularly at short lags. Experiment 2 (N = 64) introduced biology-related words as an additional control condition and replicated the blink effect. While math anxiety was again associated with more negative emotional ratings of math stimuli and poorer arithmetic performance, it did not significantly modulate attentional performance. Across both studies, math-related content evoked a consistent emotional bias but had variable effects on attention depending on context. These findings suggest that math anxiety may interfere with attentional processing under pressure, not through enhanced vigilance but through emotional interference and resource depletion. Implications are discussed in light of cognitive-affective models and educational interventions.