Age-related differences in how negative emotions influence arithmetic performance

Mathematical problem solving is modulated by word priming

This study aimed to explore the influence of word priming on mathematical problem solving. In two experiments, participants were required to finish multiplication estimation tasks with a specified estimation strategy under different word priming conditions (Experiment 1: concrete words vs. Experiment 2: abstract words). The results showed that: (1) under the concrete word priming condition, in comparison to neutral, positive word priming improved accuracies (ACCs) when using a down-up strategy (e.g., doing 40 × 80 = 3200 for 43 × 78), while both positive and negative word priming reduced reaction time (RT); (2) under the abstract word priming condition, both positive and negative (vs. neutral) abstract word priming reduced RTs, while individuals' ACCs of completing the estimation task were not influenced by valence. The present study showed that whether concrete words or abstract words were adopted as experimental stimuli, participants' performance of completing mathematical problems was modulated by the valence of the priming word, which led us to develop a better understanding of how arithmetic performance is influenced by word processing.

The influence of irrelevant emotionally negative stimuli on early and late retrospective metacognitive judgements

It is well established that negative emotions influence a range of cognitive processes. How these emotions influence the metacognitive judgement individuals make about their own performance and whether this influence is similar depending on the conditions under which metacognition is assessed, however, is far less understood. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether exposure to emotional stimuli could influence metacognitive judgements made under short or long time constraints. A total sample of 144 young adults (aged 18-35 years) was recruited and asked to complete an arithmetic strategy selection task under emotional or neutral condition. Following each strategy selection trial, participants also provided a retrospective confidence judgement (RCJ). Both strategy selection and RCJ were collected under short or long time constraints (1,500 vs. 2,500 ms for strategy selection and 800 vs. 1,500 ms for RCJ). In addition to replicating previous findings showing lower rates of better strategy selection under negative emotions compared with neutral condition, an effect of negative stimuli on the accuracy of participants' confidence judgements was found, but only if participants had a short time limit to make their second-level evaluation. Such findings are consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to emotional stimuli disturbs early, but not late metacognitive processes and have important implications to further our understanding of the role of emotions on metacognition.

How negative emotions influence arithmetic performance: a comparison of young and older adults

We investigated the influence of negative emotions on arithmetic problem-solving performance and age-related differences therein. Participants were asked to verify complex multiplication problems that were either true (e.g., 4 × 26 = 104) or false (e.g., 5 × 41 = 201). Half the problems were five problems (e.g., 5 × 28 = 140) and half were non-five problems (e.g., 6 × 36 = 216). False five problems violated the five-rule, the parity-rule, both rules, or no rule. Problems were preceded by emotionally neutral or negative pictures. For true problems, emotions impaired performance while verifying non-five problems in young adults only and while verifying five problems in older adults only. For false five problems, negative emotions influenced young adults’ performance while verifying both-rule and no-rule violation problems but not when verifying parity-rule violation or five-rule violation problems. Negative emotions did not influence older adults’ performance whichever false five problems they solved. These findings suggest that negative emotions may change the mechanisms that participants use to solve arithmetic problems and that emotions influence young and older adults via different mechanisms.

Estimation Strategy Utilization Is Modulated by Implicit Emotion Regulation: Evidence from Behavioral and Event-Related Potentials Studies

A large number of studies have studied the influence of emotional experience on an individual's estimation performance, but the influence of implicit emotion regulation is still unknown. Participants were asked to complete the following tasks in order: idiom matching task, multiplication computational estimation task (MCE task), gender judgment task (GJ task), and emotional experience intensity assessment task. The words matching task was adopted to achieve the purpose of implicit emotion regulation (implicit reappraisal and implicit suppression). Behavioral results showed that implicit reappraisal and implicit suppression equally contributed to improving an individual's estimation speed (but not ACC (accuracy)). The MCE task related ERP (event-related potential) results showed that the influence of implicit emotion regulation on estimation consisted of two phases. In the first phase (encoding phase), implicit reappraisal both enhanced (larger P1 amplitudes) and weakened (smaller N170 amplitudes) an individual's encoding sensitivity, while implicit suppression enhanced an individual's encoding sensitivity (larger P1 amplitudes). In the second phase (estimation strategies retrieval phase), implicit reappraisal (but not implicit suppression) cost more attention resources (larger LPC2 and LPC3 amplitudes). The present study suggested that both implicit reappraisal and implicit suppression contributed to improving an individual's estimation performance, and the regulation effect of implicit suppression (vs. implicit reappraisal) was better.

Emotions and arithmetic in children

How do negative emotions influence arithmetic performance and how such influence changes with age during childhood? To address these issues, I used a within-trial emotion induction procedure while children solve arithmetic problems. More specifically, 8-15 year-old participants (N = 207) solved arithmetic problems (8 + 4 = 13. True? False?) that were displayed superimposed on emotionally negative or neutral pictures. The main results showed (a) poorer performance in emotionally negative conditions in all age groups, (b) larger deleterious effects of negative emotions on harder problems, (c) decreased effects of emotions as children grow older, and (d) sequential carry-over effects of emotions in all age groups such that larger decreased performance under emotion condition relative to neutral condition occurred on current trials immediately preceded by emotional trials. These findings have important implications for furthering our understanding of how emotions influence arithmetic performance in children and how this influence changes during childhood.

Influence of emotional stimuli on metacognition: A study in arithmetic

We investigate the role of negative emotional stimuli on direct and indirect metacognition, and document age-related differences in this role during adulthood. Participants were presented with negative or neutral pictures while asked to select which of two available strategies was the better strategy to find approximate estimates of two-digit multiplication problems. Following each strategy selection, participants provided either a direct (confidence judgment; Expt. 1) or an indirect (opt-out judgment; Expt. 2) evaluation of their strategy choice. Negative emotional stimuli decreased metacognitive accuracy for arithmetic strategy selection, but only when indirect metacognitive measures were collected. No differences were found when direct metacognitive judgments were requested. The effects of emotional stimuli on indirect metacognition and lack of effects on direct metacognition were found in both young and older adults. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of emotion on metacognition in young and older adults.

Estimation Strategy Selection Is Modulated by Snapshot Emotional Priming, but Not Math Anxiety

The present study explored the role of snapshot emotional priming and math anxiety in estimation strategy selection. Participants were asked to complete a two-digit multiplication estimation task (e.g., 34 × 67) under explicit (Experiment 1) and implicit (Experiment 2) snapshot emotional priming conditions by freely choosing to use DU (down-up, e.g., doing 30 × 70 = 2100 for 34 × 67) or UD (up-down, e.g., doing 40 × 60 = 2400 for 34 × 67) strategies to arrive as close as possible to the correct answer. In Experiment 1, individuals' estimation performance was positively influenced by explicit happy priming (shorter RT (reaction time)), while not affected by explicit fear priming. In Experiment 2, individuals' estimation ACC (accuracy) when using the UD strategy was negatively affected by both implicit happy and fear priming, but their RT when using DU and UD strategies was positively impacted by implicit happy priming. In both experiments, the correlations between math anxiety and estimation performance (ACC, RT, and strategy selection adaptivity) was not significant. The present study suggests that fear priming was not always detrimental to individuals' estimation performance, and happy priming did not always universally improve individuals' estimation performance. Additionally, estimation strategy selection was not influenced by math anxiety.

EXPRESS: How negative emotions affect young and older adults' numerosity estimation performance

In this study, we investigated the influence of negative emotions on numerosity estimation and whether this influence changes with aging during adulthood. Young and older adults were asked to estimate and compare the numerosity of collections of elements (cars or dots) with a two-digit number. Collections of elements were preceded by emotionally neutral (e.g., mushrooms) or emotionally negative (e.g., a corpse) pictures. Stimuli were easier (i.e., small-ratio) or harder (i.e., large-ratio) items. Young and older participants obtained similar numerosity estimation performance. Interestingly, participants were less accurate under negative emotions than under neutral emotions when they estimated numerosity of collections of abstract elements (i.e., dots). In contrast, participants improved their performance under negative emotions while estimating collections of non-abstract, daily-life elements (i.e., cars). These findings have important implications for furthering our understanding of the role of negative emotions in numerosity estimation and age-related differences therein.

Implicit emotion regulation improves arithmetic performance: An ERP study

Available evidence suggests that emotions influence arithmetic, and explicit emotion regulation modulates the effect of anxiety on arithmetic performance. However, neural mechanisms by which implicit emotion regulation affects these phenomena remain unclear, particularly under distinct affective priming contexts. Twenty-two college students were required to perform multiple tasks in sequence, including an idioms matching task, a multiplication computational estimation task (MCE task), an emotion judgement task (EJ task), and an emotion assessment task (EA task). Behavioral performance was measured via accuracy and response time during the MCE task, and ratings of the EA task, while eletrophysiological response was measured via the contingent negative variation (CNV) elicited by completing the MCE task. Decreased response time and emotional intensity ratings were observed for priming emotion regulation idioms compared to priming neutral idioms. Priming emotion regulation idioms attenuated early CNV amplitudes under happiness priming, and attenuated both early and late CNV amplitudes under fear priming. These results suggested that implicit reappraisal and suppression are promising strategies to enhance arithmetic performance and alleviate the adverse effects of affective priming, especially under fear priming.