@MISC{_reprintsand, author = {}, title = {Reprints and permission:}, year = {} }
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Abstract
Strong mathematical skills are increasingly essential for aca-demic and professional success in today’s high-technology world (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008). Research has shown that math anxiety has a negative impact on mathe-matical skills, which leads to adverse effects on career choice, employment, and professional success (Ma, 1999). Math anxi-ety is thought to influence learning and mastery of mathemat-ics from an early age, but its precise developmental origins are not known (Rubinsten & Tannock, 2010). Although the first years of elementary schooling are an important period for acquiring basic mathematical skills, previous behavioral stud-ies of math anxiety have mainly focused on adolescents and adults. However, across all age groups, but most notably in children, nothing is currently known about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying math anxiety. The study reported here is the first to identify the neural basis of math anxiety in young children and demonstrate its impact on brain functioning and connectivity at one of the earliest stages of formal acquisition of math skills. Math anxiety is a negative emotional response that is char-acterized by avoidance as well as feelings of stress and anxiety in situations involving mathematical reasoning (Ashcraft & Ridley, 2005). It can often hinder the successful completion of tasks involving manipulation of numerical information and is a prominent cause of problem-solving difficulties across all