The impact of mathematics anxiety on mathematics performance has been studied in more recent literature. An individual with math anxiety does not necessarily lack ability in mathematics, rather, they cannot perform to their full potential due to the interfering symptoms of their anxiety. Math anxiety manifests itself in a variety of ways, including physical, psychological, and behavioral symptoms, that can all disrupt a student's mathematical performance. The strong negative correlation between high math anxiety and low achievement is often thought to be due to the impact of math anxiety on working memory. Working memory has a limited capacity. A large portion of this capacity is dedicated to problem-solving when solving mathematical tasks. However, in individuals with math anxiety, much of this space is taken up by anxious thoughts, thus compromising the individual's ability to perform. In addition, a frequent reliance in schools on high-stakes and timed testing, where students tend to feel the most anxiety, can lead to lower achievement for math-anxious individuals. Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results demonstrate that students experiencing high math anxiety demonstrate mathematics scores that are 34 points lower than students who do not have math anxiety, equivalent to one full year of school. Besides, researchers Elisa Cargnelutti et al show that the influence of mathematical anxiety on math-related performance increases over time due to the accumulation of passive experience in the subject or other factors like more requirements on mathematics as children grow up. These findings demonstrate the clear link between math anxiety and reduced levels of achievement, suggesting that alleviating math anxiety may lead to a marked improvement in student achievement.
