The hidden methodological implications of working memory and math anxiety: A review.

Math anxiety impacts millions of lives on a daily basis which results in reduced STEM outputs throughout society. Research into the anxiety is often conflicted and fails to truly acknowledge methodological impact which contributes sizeable errors in data interpretation that has already infiltrated the literature. This review collates and describe trends in math anxiety research to discuss the damaging implications of methodological choice, with results exploring increased math anxiety in females but without performance deficits, and the lack of attention to adolescent and the elderly populations. Most importantly results demonstrate a striking difference in reports of impaired working memory depending on the task used, which serves as the basis for a number of conflicting arguments occurring within the field. Overall this review provides a concise overview of the literature and presents several suggestions for the improvement of future research.