This study aimed to determine whether math anxiety was related to working memory (WM) updating performance and, specifically, to the retrieval and substitution components of updating. A set of WM updating (WMU) tasks that involve different retrieval and substitution requirements were administered to 114 university students. In addition, participants completed a math anxiety assessment on two occasions: 1–2 weeks before and immediately prior to task administration to increase the likelihood of observing the relationship between math anxiety and updating performance. The results showed a relationship between math anxiety scores and updating performance. Math anxious individuals took longer and made more errors, especially on tasks that required retrieving information from WM. These results suggest that math anxious individuals are less efficient when it comes to accessing numerical information in WM. Consequently, they may struggle with math-related tasks that involve retrieving numerical information from WM.
Math anxiety has been found to be an emotional problem that has a negative effect on students´ academic performance across different levels of education. This type of anxiety could be related to certain cognitive and emotional processes. A first objetive was to examine the relationship between math anxiety and certain inhibitory abilities responsible of eliminating intrusive thoughts or preventing them access to consciousness. A second aim was to determine the extent in which math anxiety and students´self-perceptions of their own emotional abilities are related. To this end, 187 first-year undergraduate psychology students were administered different measures to assess math anxiety, statistics anxiety, inhibitory abilities, and perceived emotional intelligence. The results showed that students with high math anxiety were more likely to experience intrusive thoughts, were less effective at suppressing these thoughts, and reported lower scores in understanding and regulating their emotions. These cognitive mechanisms and emotional abilities are of relevance to better understand the nature of this type of anxiety.
This paper is an analysis both of the presentation formats and sample types most frequently used in court case simulations, and of the strength of the evidence given in a trial, which are relevant factors for the verdicts returned by jurors. The samples selected have been taken from citizens eligible as jurors according to Spanish law. Real cases of manslaughter have been used. The results obtained show that the type of sample, the presentation format and the strength of evidence have an independent effect on the jurors’ decisions. The strongest influence on verdict is attributable, first, to the evidence; secondly, to the type of sample; and, finally, to the presentation format. The effects caused by the studied variables on the jurors’ verdict tendency also seem to recur in some of the relevant questions which make them explain and justify their verdicts, the effect being more noticeable with ambiguous evidence.
9 June 2022 in Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment
The objectives were to examine the factorial structure of the Academic Procrastination Scale-Short Form (APS-S) and the measurement invariance across gender and educational levels, to determine possible differences in procrastination across gender, educational levels, and grades. The sample was formed of 1486 Spanish primary and secondary school students between the ages of 7 and 19 years. A one-factor model provided an adequate fit. Scalar and partial scalar invariance were achieved through gender and educational levels, respectively. Internal consistency was good and slightly higher for secondary school students than primary school students. Moderate convergent validity was obtained. The APS-S scores showed a weak but significant correlation with math anxiety. Procrastination scores increased with grade, and males showed significantly higher procrastination scores than females. The Spanish APS-S demonstrated adequate reliability and validity scores and could be a useful tool for examining academic procrastination in children and adolescents.