Attentional bias and math avoidance: insights from a developmental sample

Stimuli perceived as threatening subtly influence how individuals orient their attention, a phenomenon labelled as attentional bias. According to literature, individuals with negatives attitudes toward math would exhibit attentional bias when presented with math-related stimuli. However, attentional bias and its relationships with math anxiety, math self-efficacy, and math skills are understudied, particularly when considering developmental samples. For this reason, the aim of the present study was to assess attentional bias toward math stimuli (i.e., math vs. neutral words) and to evaluate its relationship with math anxiety, math self-efficacy and math skills in fifth and sixth grade students (Mmonths = 135.84; SDmonths = 7.53) tested in January 2023. Findings indicated that children who were more anxious and had lower levels of math self-efficacy and math skills appeared to avoid math stimuli in an attentional bias task. Furthermore, dominance analysis showed that math self-efficacy made the largest average contribution in attentional bias scores, suggesting that motivational constructs would play a central role in the observed attentional bias avoidance patterns. Results could potentially generalize developmental age samples, providing new insight into how avoidance behaviors, even for stimuli that are not purely numerical, would influence children's attentional processes rapidly and automatically, posing a risk factor for maintaining negative attitudes toward math.