Fear of maths can activate pain networks in the brain

Updated on: Friday, November 02, 2012

Researchers from the University of Chicago found that anxiety about maths can activate regions of the brain linked with the experience of physical pain and visceral threat detection.

The study led by Ian Lyons found that in individuals who experience high levels of anxiety when facing maths tasks, the anticipation of maths increases activity in regions of the brain associated with the physical sensation of pain.

The higher an individual's maths anxiety, the more such neural activity was increased.

"We provide the first neural evidence indicating the nature of the subjective experience of math-anxiety," researchers said in a statement.

Previous research has shown that other forms of psychological stress, such as social rejection or a traumatic break-up, can also elicit feelings of physical pain.

However, the current study examines the pain response associated with anticipating an anxiety-provoking event, rather than the pain associated with a stressful event itself.

The new research suggests that simply anticipating an unpleasant event may be associated with the activation of neural regions involved in processing physical pain.

Researchers said their results indicate that it is not the performance of a mathematical task that elicits this reaction, but merely the anticipation of math.

These results provide a potential neural basis for the observation that individuals with high maths anxiety tend to avoid maths-related situations, including avoiding classes or maths-related careers, they said.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Fear of maths can activate pain networks in the brain

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