Early executive functioning in children with persistent mathematical difficulties

Article Sidebar

PDF (Español (España))
Published: Jul 2, 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2016.n1.v1.188
Keywords:
mathematical difficulties retrospective study executive functioning

Main Article Content

María Jesús Presentación Herrero
Universitat Jaume I
Jessica Mercader Ruiz
Universitat Jaume I
Rebeca Siegenthaler Hierro
Universitat Jaume I
Ana Badenes-Gasset Presentación
Universidad Católica de Valencia
Ana Miranda Casas
Universidad de Valencia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the differences in executive functions of inhibition and working memory (WM) assessed in kindergarten between subjects with persistent difficulties in the area of mathematics in 2nd grade of Primary School and children with typical achievement. The final study sample consisted of 180 children (originally composed of 209 preschoolers), 6.6% of whom  had persistent mathematical difficulties (n = 12) and 45.5% showed average performance in both measurements (n = 82). At Kindergarten, six neuropsychological tasks related to the executive functions of inhibition, verbal WM and visuospatial WM were administered. The results showed differences in 5 of the 6 tasks applied at the first assessment, with particularly significant effects on inhibition and verbal WM. The implications of these findings for psychoeducational research and practice are discussed.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Presentación Herrero, M. J., Mercader Ruiz, J., Siegenthaler Hierro, R., Badenes-Gasset Presentación, A., & Miranda Casas, A. (2016). Early executive functioning in children with persistent mathematical difficulties. International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology. Revista INFAD De Psicología., 1(1), 33–42. https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2016.n1.v1.188
Issue
Vol. 1 No. 1 (2016): PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE AND PROFESSION. FACING REALITY.
Section
Articles
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
 
a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms:

 

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

 
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
 
c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
 
The authors are responsible to obtain the appropriate permissions to reproduce material (text, images or graphics) from other publications and to quote their origin correctly.
 
Author Biographies

María Jesús Presentación Herrero, Universitat Jaume I

Profesora Titular del Dpto. de Psicología Evolutiva, Educativa, Social y Metodología de la Univeristat Jaume I de Castellón.

Jessica Mercader Ruiz, Universitat Jaume I

Personal Investigador en Formación (FPI UJI2I005-PREDOC/2013/34) del departamento de Psicología Evolutiva, Educativa, Social y Metodología de la Universitat Jaume I

Rebeca Siegenthaler Hierro, Universitat Jaume I

Profesora Contratada Doctora del Dpto. de Psicología Evolutiva, Educativa, Social y Metodología de la Universitat Jaume I

Ana Badenes-Gasset Presentación, Universidad Católica de Valencia

Graduada en Psicología. Máster en Neuroeciencia Cognitiva y Necesidades Especificas de apoyo Educativo.

Estudiante del Máster Universitario en Formación del Profesorado de Secundaria, Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas.

Ana Miranda Casas, Universidad de Valencia

Catedrática de Universidad del Dpto. de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación de la Universidad de Valencia.

References

Alloway, T., Gathercole, S., y Pickering, S. (2006). Verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory in children: Are they separable? Child Development, 77(6), 1698-1716. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00968.x

Andersson, P.J. (2008). Towards a developmental model of executive function. In V. Anderson, R. Jacobs, & P.J. Anderson (Eds.), Executive functions and the frontal lobes (pp.) 3-21. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Andersson, U., y Lyxell, B.(2007). Working memory deficit in children with mathematical difficulties: A general or specific deficit? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 96,197–228. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2006.10.001

Archibald, S. J., y Kerns, K. A. (1999). Identification and description of new tests ofexecutive functioning in children. Child Neuropsychology, 5, 115–129. doi: 10.1076/chin.5.2.115.3167

Blair, C., y Razza, R. P. (2007). Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Child development, 78(2), 647-663. doi: 10.3410/f.1071074.524063

Bull, R., y Lee, K. (2014). Executive functioning and mathematics achievement. Child Development Perspectives, 8(1), 36-41. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12059

Bull, R., y Scerif, G. (2001). Executive functioning as a predictor of children's mathematics ability: Inhibition, switching, and working memory. Developmental neuropsychology, 19(3), 273-293. doi: 10.1207/s15326942dn1903_3

Clark, C. A., Pritchard, V. E., y Woodward, L. J. (2010). Preschool executive functioning abilities predict early mathematics achievement. Developmental psychology, 46(5), 1176. doi: 10.1037/a0019672

Diamond, A., y Taylor, C. (1996). Development of an aspect of executive control: Development of the abilities to remember what I said and to “Do as I say, not as I do”. Developmental psychobiology, 29(4), 315-334. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199605)29:4<315::aid-dev2>3.3.co;2-c

Espy, K. A., McDiarmid, M. M., Cwik, M. F., Stalets, M. M., Hamby, A., y Senn, T. E. (2004). The contribution of executive functions to emergent mathematical skills in preschool children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 465-486. doi: 10.1207/s15326942dn2601_6

Gathercole, S., Pickering, S., Ambridge, B., y Wearing, H. (2004). The structure of working memory from 4 to 15 years of age. Developmental Psychology, 40, 177-190. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.177

Geary, D. C. (2004). Mathematics and learning disabilities. Journal of learning disabilities, 37(1), 4-15. doi: 10.1177/00222194040370010701

Ginsburg, H. y Baroody, A. (2003). TEMA-3; Test de Competencia Matemática Básica. Madrid: TEA.

Grégoire, J., Nöel, M., y Van Nieuwenhoven, C. (2005). TEDI-MATH; Test para el Diagnostico de las Competencias Básicas en Matemáticas. Madrid: TEA Ediciones.

Henry, L., y MacLean, M. (2003). Relationships between working memory, expressive vocabulary and arithmetical reasoning in children with and without intellectual disabilities. Educational and Child Psychology, 20(3), 51-63.doi: 10.1891/1945-8959.11.1.20

IBM Corp. Released 2014. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0. Chicago, ILL: IBM Corp.

Kroesbergen, E. H., Van Luit, J. E. H., Van Lieshout, E. C. D. M., Van Loosbroek, E., y Van de Rijt, B. A. M. (2009). Individual Differences in Early Numeracy The Role of Executive Functions and Subitizing. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 27(3), 226-236. doi: 10.1177/0734282908330586

Luria, A. R. (1966). Higher cortical functions in man. New York: Basic Books.

Moll, K., Kunze, S., Neuhoff, N., Bruder, J., y Schulte-Körne, G. (2014). Specific learning disorder: Prevalence and gender differences. PLoS one, 9(7), e103537. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103537

Pickering, S., Baqués, J., y Gathercole, S. (1999). Batería de tests de memoria de trabajo. Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

Presentación-Herrero, M. J., Mercader-Ruiz, J., Siegenthaler-Hierro, R., Fernández-Andrés, I., y Miranda-Casas, A. (2015). Funcionamiento ejecutivo y motivación en niños de educación infantil con riesgo de dificultades en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas. Revista de Neurología, 60(Supl 1), S81-5.

Raghubar, K. P., Barnes, M. A., y Hecht, S. A. (2010). Working memory and mathematics: A review of developmental, individual difference, and cognitive approaches. Learning and Individual Differences, 20(2), 110-122. doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2009.10.005

Siegel, L. S., y Ryan, E. B. (1989). The development of working memory in normally achieving and subtypes of learning disabled children. Child Development, 60(4), 973-980. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1989.tb03528.x

Stock, P., Desoete, A., y Roeyers, H. (2009). Screening for mathematical disabilities in kindergarten. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 12, 389-396. doi: 10.3109/17518420903046752

Swanson, H.L. y, Jerman, O. (2006). Math disabilities: A selective meta-analysis of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 76, 249–274. doi: 10.3102/00346543076002249

Toll, S. W., Van der Ven, S. H., Kroesbergen, E. H., y Van Luit, J. E. (2011). Executive functions as predictors of math learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44(6), 521-532. doi: 10.1177/0022219410387302

Van der Sluis, S., de Jong, P. F., y van der Leij, A. (2004). Inhibition and shifting in children with learning deficits in arithmetic and reading. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87, 239–266. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2003.12.002

Van der Sluis, S., de Jong, P. F., y van der Leij, A. (2007). Executive functioning in children and its relations with reasoning, reading, and arithmetic. Intelligence, 35, 427–449. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2006.09.001

Van der Ven, S. H., Kroesbergen, E. H., Boom, J., y Leseman, P. P. (2012). The development of executive functions and early mathematics: A dynamic relationship. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(1), 100-119. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8279.2011.02035.x

Vukovic, R. K., y Siegel, L. S. (2010). Academic and cognitive characteristics of persistent mathematics difficulty from first through fourth grade. Learning Disabilities Research y Practice, 25(1), 25-38. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5826.2009.00298.x

Zamarian, L., Visani, P., Delzaer, M., Seppi, K., Mair, K. J., Diem, A., . . . Benke, T. (2006). Parkinson’s disease and arithmetic: The role of executive functions. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 248, 124–130.