Anxiety Makes Brain Poor At Math For Some Children

A study from the Stanford University School of Medicine is published this week inPsychological Science showing that children who experience difficulty with math exhibit an altered brain function from anxiety.

When it comes to equations and formulas, all you have to fear is fear itself it seems, with second and third grade students showing brain activity associated with panicky or frightened feelings, decreasing activity in the part of the brain that handles math. It's certainly an interesting theory and if put into action, could provide a means of counseling children that have problems with math by way of improving their abilities.

As Vinod Menon, PhD, the Stanford professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences who led the research confirms: "The same part of the brain that responds to fearful situations, such as seeing a spider or snake, also shows a heightened response in children with high math anxiety."

Menon and his team used functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans on nearly 50 students with low and high math anxiety. The children were also assessed for math anxiety with a modified version of a standardized questionnaire for adults, and also received standard intelligence and cognitive tests.

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