Task-based attentional and default mode connectivity associated with science and math anxiety profiles among university physics students

被引：2

作者：

Smith, Donisha D. ^{[1
]}

Meca, Alan ^{[2
]}

Bottenhorn, Katherine L. ^{[3
]}

Bartley, Jessica E. ^{[4
]}

Riedel, Michael C. ^{[4
]}

Salo, Taylor

Peraza, Julio A. ^{[4
]}

Laird, Robert W. ^{[4
]}

Pruden, Shannon M. ^{[1
]}

Sutherland, Matthew T. ^{[1
]}

Brewe, Eric ^{[5
]}

Laird, Angela R. ^{[4
]}

机构：

[1] Florida Int Univ, Dept Psychol, Miami, FL 33199 USA

[2] Univ Texas San Antonio, Dept Psychol, San Antonio, TX USA

[3] Univ Southern Calif, Keck Sch Med USC, Dept Populat & Publ Hlth Sci, Los Angeles, CA USA

[4] Florida Int Univ, Dept Phys, Miami, FL USA

[5] Drexel Univ, Dept Phys, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA

来源：

TRENDS IN NEUROSCIENCE AND EDUCATION | 2023年 / 32卷

关键词：

science anxiety; math anxiety; attentional control theory (ACT); physics cognition; task-based connectivity; dorsal attention network (DAN); ventral attention network (VAN); default mode network (DMN); educational neuroscience; FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY; BRAIN NETWORKS; PERFORMANCE; COGNITION; DORSAL; SEGMENTATION; REGISTRATION; EFFICIENCY; ACCURATE; REGIONS;

D O I：

10.1016/j.tine.2023.100204

中图分类号：

Q189 [神经科学];

学科分类号：

071006 ;

摘要：

Purpose: Attentional control theory (ACT) posits that elevated anxiety increases the probability of re-allocating cognitive resources needed to complete a task to processing anxiety-related stimuli. This process impairs processing efficiency and can lead to reduced performance effectiveness. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students frequently experience anxiety about their coursework, which can interfere with learning and performance and negatively impact student retention and graduation rates. The objective of this study was to extend the ACT framework to investigate the neurobiological associations between science and math anxiety and cognitive performance among 123 physics undergraduate students. Procedures: Latent profile analysis (LPA) identified four profiles of science and math anxiety among STEM students, including two profiles that represented the majority of the sample (Low Science and Math Anxiety; 59.3% and High Math Anxiety; 21.9%) and two additional profiles that were not well represented (High Science and Math Anxiety; 6.5% and High Science Anxiety; 4.1%). Students underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session in which they performed two tasks involving physics cognition: the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) task and the Physics Knowledge (PK) task.Findings: No significant differences were observed in FCI or PK task performance between High Math Anxiety and Low Science and Math Anxiety students. During the three phases of the FCI task, we found no significant brain connectivity differences during scenario and question presentation, yet we observed significant differences during answer selection within and between the dorsal attention network (DAN), ventral attention network (VAN), and default mode network (DMN). Further, we found significant group differences during the PK task were limited to the DAN, including DAN-VAN and within-DAN connectivity.Conclusions: These results highlight the different cognitive processes required for physics conceptual reasoning compared to physics knowledge retrieval, provide new insight into the underlying brain dynamics associated with anxiety and physics cognition, and confirm the relevance of ACT theory for science and math anxiety.

引用

页数：14