38 What theory does the Ashcraft and Kirk study challenge?
(A)Math anxiety improves math performance.
(B)Math anxiety is a result of low math aptitude.
(C)Starting to study math at a young age improves math performance.
(D)The more math aptitude one has, the less working memory is needed.

By about age 12, students who feel threatened by mathematics start to avoid math courses, do poorly in the few math classes they do take, and earn low scores on math-achievement tests成就測驗.

Some scientists have theorized建立理論 that kids having little math aptitude資質 in the first place just if ably熟練 dread恐懼 grappling盡力解決 with numbers.

However, it is not that simple, at least for college students, according to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

According to the study, people’s intrusive侵入 worries about math temporarily暫時 disrupt擾亂 mental processes needed for doing arithmetic算術 and drag down擊垮math competence能力, report Mark H. Ashcraft and Elizabeth P. Kirk, both psychologists at Cleveland(Ohio) State University.

Math anxiety exerts運用 this effect by making it difficult to hold new information in mind while simultaneously同時的 manipulating操縱 it, the researchers hold.

Psychologists regard看待 this capacity, known as working memory, as crucial for dealing with numbers.

“Math anxiety soaks up吸收 working memory resources and makes it harder to learn mathematics, probably beginning in middle school,” Ashcraft says.