%A Carey,Emma %A Hill,Francesca %A Devine,Amy %A Szücs,Dénes %D 2016 %J Frontiers in Psychology %C %F %G English %K Mathematics anxiety,mathematics performance,deficit theory,debilitating anxiety,cognitive interference,working memory,educational psychology %Q %R 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01987 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2016-January-07 %9 Mini Review %+ Emma Carey,Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge,Cambridge, UK,ec475@cam.ac.uk %+ Dr Dénes Szücs,Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge,Cambridge, UK,ec475@cam.ac.uk %# %! The direction of the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance %* %< %T The Chicken or the Egg? The Direction of the Relationship Between Mathematics Anxiety and Mathematics Performance %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01987 %V 6 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-1078 %X This review considers the two possible causal directions between mathematics anxiety (MA) and poor mathematics performance. Either poor maths performance may elicit MA (referred to as the Deficit Theory), or MA may reduce future maths performance (referred to as the Debilitating Anxiety Model). The evidence is in conflict: the Deficit Theory is supported by longitudinal studies and studies of children with mathematical learning disabilities, but the Debilitating Anxiety Model is supported by research which manipulates anxiety levels and observes a change in mathematics performance. It is suggested that this mixture of evidence might indicate a bidirectional relationship between MA and mathematics performance (the Reciprocal Theory), in which MA and mathematics performance can influence one another in a vicious cycle.