Wednesday, November 14, 2012

17. High Anxiety: How Worrying About Math Hurts Your Brain



                According to researchers, when someone feels embarrassed because of their lackluster mathematical skills, it could be more than simply embarrassment.  Apparently, when anxious about anything to do with math, the part of your brain that reacts when a person feels physical pain is stimulated.  “Many math-phobics go out of their way to avoid math-related tasks or thinking about math problems, and this reaction led the scientists to wonder whether something more than dislike was involved,” said Olivia B. Waxman, they author of this article.  A test with 28 participants, half anxious, the other half   not, revealed that the more anxious of the groups had a harder time solving math problems.

                This article, like many others, was informative rather than entertaining or challenging.  It was a good read and very educational, I suppose.  Olivia B. Waxman did a splendid job in presenting her purpose with not only statistics, but quotes and research to back up her claims.

No comments:

Post a Comment