Abstract
Mathematical contextual threat is defined as the explicit signaling made to a person that a task to be performed is mathematical in nature and that they will be profiled in that area according to their performance. The effect of the experimental manipulation of the mathematical contextual threat condition on performance on intuitive problems of a mathematical task is explored. Cases are analyzed in which the threat is (or is not) consistent with a situational indicator that confirms it. Variables of mathematics anxiety and working memory capacity are also controlled. By using linear mixed effects models, it is concluded that mathematics anxiety has a statistically significant effect on performance indicators (response time and accuracy) while working memory capacity showed a significant effect on accuracy. Overall, the data suggest that performance on intuitive problems is not influenced by the contextual threat condition.