Ansiedade matemática e memória de trabalho afetiva

Abstract

This dissertation aimed to try to highlight the relationship between mathematics anxiety (MA) and affective working memory (AWM), a construct that has been studied over the last few years and, in the opinion of the author of this work, it is essential to take into account in any model that aims to explain the mechanisms of action of mathematical anxiety. In this sense, a qualitative systematic review was carried out, which aimed to answer the following question: is there evidence for the construct of affective working memory? In order to answer it, a systematic search was carried out in the following databases: PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science, with the following search terms: “affective working memory” and “emotional working memory”. The results were presented and condensed into a narrative synthesis. Likewise, a theoretical review was carried out in which we sought to present AM, articulating it with the AWM construct, which allows to shed light on the mechanisms of action of MA on performance, especially in more complex mathematical tasks, which suffer most its effects. It was concluded, therefore, that the AWM construct seems to be empirically supported, at least according to the studies analyzed and, as MA is an anxiety with a specific object, it can be conjectured that there is some relationship between MA and AWM.