Emotional Processing of Math-related Words in People with Math Anxiety

Background: Research exploring emotional responses to math-related words in individuals with math anxiety (MA) is scarce. Here, we examined MA participants’ subjective emotional processing of math-related cues within Lang’s bioinformational model of emotion to further understand the role of those cu...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Linares, Rocío, Pelegrina, Santiago, Delgado-Rodríguez, Rafael
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Data de publicação:2023
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Jaén
Repositório:RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén
OAI Identifier:oai:ruja.ujaen.es:10953/3131
Acesso em linha:https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2023.2295476
https://hdl.handle.net/10953/3131
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:math anxiety
emotional words
math words
emotional processing
Self-Assessment Manikin
Descrição
Resumo:Background: Research exploring emotional responses to math-related words in individuals with math anxiety (MA) is scarce. Here, we examined MA participants’ subjective emotional processing of math-related cues within Lang’s bioinformational model of emotion to further understand the role of those cues in MA. Methods: In total, 41 high-MA and 32 low-MA undergraduates rated math-related words, along with neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant words, from the Affective Norms for English Words. The Self-Assessment Manikin was used to calculate valence, arousal, and dominance scores for each word. Results: The low-MA group rated math-related words as neutral on the three emotional scales, however, the high-MA group rated them lower and higher for valence and dominance than neutral and unpleasant words, respectively. Moreover, math-related words were rated as more and less activating than neutral and unpleasant words, respectively. The two groups significantly differed in scores on the three scales only for the math-related words. Conclusions: These results provide evidence that individuals with high MA show altered emotional processing of math-related words, experiencing them as moderately aversive and moderately activating. The findings emphasize that the altered emotional processing of words associated with math should be considered a symptom of MA.