Many high-achieving students experience math anxiety at a
young age — a problem that can follow them throughout their lives, new research
at the University of Chicago shows.
In a study of first- and second-graders, Sian Beilock,
professor in psychology, found that students report worry and fear about doing
math as early as first grade. Most surprisingly math anxiety harmed the
highest-achieving students, who typically have the most working memory, Beilock
and her colleagues found.
“You can think of working memory as a kind of ‘mental
scratchpad’ that allows us to ‘work’ with whatever information is temporarily
flowing through consciousness,” Beilock said. “It’s especially important when
we have to do a math problem and juggle numbers in our head. Working memory is
one of the major building blocks of IQ.”