The fear of math can cause pain

For those who are afraid of math, thinking about simple calculations can cause a painful feeling in the head.

Professor Sian Beilock and Dr. Ian Lyons, two psychologists from the University of Chicago in the US, conducted an experiment to understand the impact of calculations on people who are afraid of math. They recruited 28 adults, including 14 who were afraid of math and 14 who were not afraid of math, participated in the experiment.

The two researchers asked volunteers to check the accuracy of calculations on a computer screen, such as (12 x 4) - 19 = 29. Volunteers also saw a series of words (such as yrestym) and must decide whether to reverse the position of the words that can make a meaningful word. Whenever you check a calculation or a word, the computer will display a yellow circle or a blue square. If the yellow circle appears, the group understands that the calculation is about to appear. In contrast, the disturbed word will appear if the blue square appears. Beilock and Lyons watched their brains with magnetic resonance imaging, Popular Science reported.

Many students can become scientists in the future
if you overcome your fear of math.

The results showed that the posterior insula's activity - the name of the area that dealt with the pain - in the brains of those who feared mathematics increased sharply whenever they saw the yellow circle. But in the process of examining the calculations, the brain area returned to its normal state.

"That proves the feeling of fear of math is the culprit that causes pain, not calculations," Lyons argues.

Tests also show that people who are afraid of math often feel pain before they perform calculations or solve problems. This is a psychological phenomenon that scientists should find a solution to help those who fear math can learn this better.

"Our research helps psychologists to understand why people who are afraid of math are always trying to avoid calculations. The instinct to urge them to avoid math, math lessons and work related to children. I often tell physicists that I should have been able to become their colleague if the feeling of fear of math did not invade my mind when I was a high school student. embarrassed with that feeling, " Beilock said.