Math anxiety is considered a predictor of math achievement, although the cognitive mechanism whereby math anxiety impairs math achievement is unclear. The paper presents the results of cross-sectional (N = 241) and longitudinal (N = 369) studies conducted among early school-aged children on the cognitive mechanism whereby math anxiety impairs math achievement. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) math anxiety directly affects math achievement; (2) in accordance with processing efficiency and attentional cognitive theories, math anxiety indirectly affects math achievement through working memory; (3) in accordance with the cognitive deficit model, math anxiety indirectly affects math achievement through number sense. The results mostly confirm the mediating role of working memory and undermine the mediating role of number sense and the direct path in the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement. Because previous studies undertaken in adults show the direct path from math anxiety to math achievement and the role of symbolic number processing in explaining the relationship between the two, the methodological and developmental aspects of the obtained results are discussed in the paper.

尽管数学焦虑影响数学成绩的认知机制尚不清楚，但数学焦虑被认为是数学成绩的预测指标。本文介绍了 对早期学龄儿童进行的认知机制横断面（N  = 241）和纵向（N = 369）研究的结果，数学焦虑会损害数学成绩。测试了以下假设：（1）数学焦虑直接影响数学成绩；（2）根据处理效率和注意力认知理论，数学焦虑症通过工作记忆间接影响数学成绩；（3）按照认知缺陷模型，数学焦虑会通过数字意义间接影响数学成绩。结果主要证实了工作记忆的中介作用，破坏了数字感的中介作用以及数学焦虑与数学成绩之间关系的直接路径。由于先前在成人中进行的研究显示了从数学焦虑到数学成绩的直接路径，以及符号数字处理在解释两者之间的关系中的作用，因此本文讨论了所得结果的方法论和发展方面。