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Math Anxiety Affects Skills As Basic As Counting
thirty-seven writes "According to four Canadian psychologists, a study they have conducted shows that math anxiety, 'the feeling of fear and dread of performing mathematical calculations,' can negatively affect mathematical tasks much simpler and more basic than previously thought. In the study, participants were asked to count black squares on a white screen. The number of squares shown ranged from one to nine and participants were given as much time as they wanted before answering. When the number of squares was in the subitizing range (one to four), both math-anxious and non-math-anxious participants performed equally well, but when the number of squares was in the counting range (five to nine), the math-anxious group took longer and were less accurate. The University of Waterloo's news release about the study includes this interesting note: 'Previous studies have shown that a weakness in basic math abilities has a greater negative effect on employment opportunities than reading difficulties [do].'"
Off topic: No, Newtonian physics also predicts that starlight will bend around a massive object., and observing the famous eclipse of 1919 was mostly about how much light would bend. Some recent publications even suggest that Eddingtons observations were not good enough to decide either way, but that science just wanted something more than wonderful formulas to make the old guard give up Newton already.
On topic:The concept that girls suck at math (and after more and more school years, the gap indeed widens) is related to just this. A study (can't find it right now) found that girl's math performance was related to how much fear of math, "I was always bad at math" and other negative vibes they got from their female teachers. My take is that it is more socially acceptable for women to openly share their insecurities* than for than for men, and girls (being more... social? Is that actually more than a stereotype?) pick up on that.
* or even boast with them, the whole anti-intellectual pride of being bad at something or not being an elitist. I wonder what the mechanics behind that are...