{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T17:46:36Z","timestamp":1779385596576,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,3]],"date-time":"2022-10-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1664755200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003977","name":"ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["733\/19"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["733\/19"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003977","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Ministry of Science &amp; Technology, Isreal","award":["733\/19"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["733\/19"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Intell."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Emotional perception of math-related information can affect an individual\u2019s attitude and professional choices, especially in the area of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professions. Method: The study compared the processing of math-related words, words with negative emotional valence, and words with neutral valence, using the physiological measure of pupil dilation on a random sample of 30 adults. Pupil responses were examined during a lexical decision task (LDT). We sought to show that exposure to math-related stimuli would cause arousal of the sympathetic system leading to an increase in pupil dilation, similar to that caused by exposure to negative stimuli. Results: pupillary responses were sensitive to words with emotional valence; exposure to math-related words led to increased pupil dilation compared to neutral words; exposure to words with negative valence led to increased pupil dilation compared to neutral words; exposure to math-related words and words with negative valence led to similar pupil dilation. The study concludes math-related textual stimuli lead to increased pupil dilation, similar to negative affective valence textual stimuli. Conclusion: These findings create new possibilities for studying the cognitive and emotional effort required to process math-related information using pupillary response, with implications for researchers, educators, and leaders in the field.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jintelligence10040079","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,8]],"date-time":"2022-10-08T23:39:31Z","timestamp":1665272371000},"page":"79","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Mathematical and Negative Information Are Similarly Processed: Pupil Dilation as an Indicator"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Lilach","family":"Layzer Yavin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel"},{"name":"Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8863-9981","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adi","family":"Shechter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel"},{"name":"Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Orly","family":"Rubinsten","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel"},{"name":"Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Aue, T., and Okon-Singer, H. (2020). Attention bias toward negative stimuli. 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