Response monitoring in math-anxious individuals in an arithmetic task

Abstract

We examine whether math anxiety is related to altered response monitoring in an arithmetic task. Response-locked event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were evaluated in 23 highly (HMA) and 23 low math-anxious (LMA) individuals while they performed an arithmetic verification task. We focused on two widely studied ERPs elicited during error processing: error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe). Correct-related negativity (CRN), an ERP elicited after a correct response, was also studied. The expected ERN following errors was found, but groups did not differ in its amplitude. Importantly, LMA individuals showed less negative CRN and more positive Pe amplitudes than their more anxious peers, suggesting more certainty regarding response accuracy and better adaptive behavioral adjustment after committing errors in an arithmetic task in the LMA group. The worse control over response performance and less awareness of correct responses in the HMA group might reduce their ability to ‘learn from errors’.