Math avoidance motivation is independent of actual math performance, with subjective estimation of task difficulty the primary influencing factor¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Groups did not differ in calculation ability (pre-experimental t(64) = 0.06, p = 0.95; in-scanner t(59) = 0.15, p = 0.88), suggesting avoidance motivation was independent of actual math performance. → Jie Liu 2025

Evidence¶

Jie Liu 2025¶

Jie Liu, Zhifeng Li, Jiawang Yang, Hao He & Fang Cui. (2025). The neurocognitive mechanism underlying math avoidance among math anxious people. npj Science of Learning 10:50. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00343-0

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Authors' interpretation in the Discussion of null arithmetic-ability differences: the printed t-tests show no group difference in calculation ability (t(59) = 0.15, p = 0.88 in-scanner; t(64) = 0.06, p = 0.95 pre-experimental), supporting "the motivation to engage in math related task was independent of the actual math perfor- mance". Note the sentence's opening clause contradicts its own t-tests; the printed statistics show no difference.

"Notably, we observed significant differences in calculating abilities between the two groups, neither in pre-experi mental computational tasks nor in computational tasks during the experiment, suggesting the motivation to engage in math related task was independent of the actual math perfor- mance, its primary influencing factor maybe the subjective estimation of task difficulty."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Achievement Goal Orientation — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Learners' task-specific self-efficacy beliefs predict whether they initiate, persist through, and recover from difficulty on academic tasks. — related
• Math anxiety correlates negatively with math performance at a pooled r = −.30 across 169 independent samples — reports the opposite
• Under high task difficulty, HMA individuals accept significantly fewer math problem challenges than LMA individuals, with no group difference under low difficulty