Math anxiety is real, the brain feels pain

Mathematics anxiety can prompt a response in the brain similar to when a person experiences physical pain, according to new research at the University of Chicago. Using brain scans, scholars determined that the brain areas active when highly math-anxious people prepare to do math overlap with the brain areas that register the threat of bodily harm or physical pain.
     "For someone who has math anxiety, the anticipation of doing math prompts a similar brain reaction as when they experience pain- say, burning one's hand on a hot stove," said Sian Beilock, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and a leading expert on math anxeity.
     Surprisingly, the researchers found it was the anticipation of having to do math, and not actually doing math itself, that looked like pain in the brain. "The brain activation does not happen during math performance, suggesting that it is not the math is painful," added Ian Lyons, a postdoctaral scholar at Western University in Ontario, Canada.
     This latest study points to the value of seeing math anxiety not just as a proxy for poor math ability, but as an indication there can be a real, negative psychological reaction to the prospect of doing math. It needs to be addressed like any other phobia, the researchers said.