title: Less precise representation of numerical magnitude in high math-anxious individuals: an ERP study of the size and distance effects.
abstract: Numerical comparison tasks are widely used to study the mental representation of numerical magnitude. In study, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while 26 high math-anxious (HMA) and 27 low math-anxious (LMA) individuals were presented with pairs of single-digit Arabic numbers and were asked to decide which one had the larger numerical magnitude. The size of the numbers and the distance between them were manipulated in order to study the size and the distance effects. The results showed that both distance and size effects were larger for the HMA group. As for ERPs, results showed that the ERP distance effect had larger amplitude for both the size and distance effects in the HMA group than among their LMA counterparts. Since this component has been taken as a marker of the processing of numerical magnitude, this result suggests that HMA individuals have a less precise representation of numerical magnitude.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: inunez@ub.edu.
authors.forename: M Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Núñez-Peña
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Macarena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suárez-Pellicioni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Distance effect; ERPs; Math anxiety; Numerical number line; Size effect