Impact of math anxiety and developmental dyscalculia on working memory performance in numeric and non-numeric contexts in school-aged children

Many children encounter learning difficulties in mathematics, attributed to developmental dyscalculia (DD) or mathematics anxiety (MA), conditions associated with impairments in working memory (WM). This research aims to examine the specific and combined impacts of DD and MA on WM, varying cognitive load. 45 girls aged between 9 and 12, distributed into 4 groups (DD, MA, DD+MA, Control), participated in tasks involving consonant recall, mental calculations, and a combined task. The results reveal better performances for MA children than DD or DD+MA children across all tasks. These data indicate more widespread WM deficits in DD and DD+MA children. Conversely, they suggest compensatory abilities in MA children, discussed within the framework of attentional control theory.