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The main purpose of this study was to examine the age-related changes in inhibitory control of 450 children at the ages of 7–8, 11–12, and 14–16 when controlling for working memory capacity (WMC) and processing speed to determine whether inhibition is an independent factor far beyond its possible reliance on the other two factors. This examination is important for several reasons. First, empirical evidence about age-related changes of inhibitory control is controversial. Second, there are no studies that explore the organization of inhibitory functions by controlling for the influence of processing speed and WMC in these age groups. Third, the construct of inhibition has been questioned in recent research. Multigroup confirmatory analyses suggested that inhibition can be organized as a one-dimension factor in which processing speed and WMC modulate the variability of some inhibition tasks. The partial reliance of inhibitory processes on processing speed and WMC demonstrates that the inhibition factor partially explains the variance of inhibitory tasks even when WMC and processing speed are controlled and some methodological concerns are addressed.

We examined the relationships among gender, planning, and academic expectations through the testing of two alternative models with latent variables tested with LISREL 8.80: one model considered planning as a mediator of the relationship between gender and academic expectations, and the other model considered academic expectations as mediators of the relationship between gender and planning. Participants were 662 first-year higher-education students from two academic years, predominantly female (60%) and mainly with majors in the juridical-social field (66.2%). The Inventario sobre Estrategias Metacognitivas ( IEM ; Inventory of Metacognitive Strategies) and the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) were applied at the beginning of the first semester to assess planning and academic expectations, respectively. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the IEM ’s structure after examining its psychometric properties with the sample from the first academic year ( N = 338). The test of the alternative mediation models with the full sample indicates that the best model was that with planning as a mediator. In this model, gender directly predicted only two APQ academic expectations, but with the mediation of planning, gender predicted all seven academic expectations. Women showed higher levels of academic expectations and planning than did men. The results are discussed at both the theoretical and practical levels.

We introduce PROXIS, a computational algorithm for the Semantic Fluency Task (SFT), which automatically counts clusters and shifts. We compared its output relative to human coders and to another cluster/shift counting algorithm (Forager), and its performance in predicting executive functions (EF), intelligence, processing speed, and semantic retrieval, also against human coders and to Forager. Correlations with EF subdomains and other cognitive factors closely resemble those of human coders, evidencing convergent validity. We also used Naïve Bayes and Decision Tree for age classification, with PROXIS outputs successfully discriminating age groups, evidence of the meaning and interpretability of those counts. Clusters and shifts were found to be more important than word counts. PROXIS’s consistency extended across semantic categories (animals, clothing, foods), suggesting its robustness and generalizability. Comparing PROXIS convergent validity with Forager’s, we found that they are on par. However, PROXIS ability to discriminate between participants’ age groups is substantially higher than Forager’s. We believe that PROXIS is applicable beyond the specifics of the SFT, and to many tasks in which people list items from semantic memory (e.g., tasks like free associates, top-of-mind, feature listing). Practical implications of the algorithm’s ease of implementation and relevance for studying the relation of the SFT to EFs and other research problems are discussed.

This study analyzed the cognitive functioning underlying arithmetical difficulties and explored the predictors of arithmetic achievement in the last three grades of Spanish Primary Education. For this purpose, a group of 165 students was selected and divided into three groups of arithmetic competence: Mathematical Learning Disability group (MLD, n = 27), Low Achieving group (LA, n = 39), and Typical Achieving group (TA, n = 99). Students were assessed in domain-general abilities (working memory and PASS cognitive processes), and numerical competence (counting and number processing) during the last two months of the academic year. Performance of children from the MLD group was significantly poorer than that of the LA group in writing dictated Arabic numbers (d = –0.88), reading written verbal numbers (d = –0.84), transcoding written verbal numbers to Arabic numbers (–0.75) and comprehension of place value (d = –0.69), as well as in simultaneous (d = –0.62) and successive (d = –0.59) coding. In addition, a specific developmental sequence was observed in both groups, the implications of which are discussed. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed simultaneous coding (β = .47, t(155) = 6.18, p < .001) and number processing (β = .23, t(155) = 3.07, p < .01) as specific predictors of arithmetical performance.

In this investigation, the capacity of the working memory (WM) updating executive function to predict individual differences in reading comprehension and problem solving was analyzed in 5th-graders of Primary Education. In addition, we examined whether this relation is direct or mediated by domain-general or domain-specific variables. For this purpose, a series of tasks was administered to assess fluid intelligence, WM information updating, arithmetic abilities, arithmetic problem solving, lexical processing, and reading comprehension in 49 students aged between 10 and 11 years. The results support the idea that updating is an important predictor of reading comprehension, beyond the influence of domain-specific skills and fluid intelligence. In the case of problem solving, our findings confirm that updating plays an important role although, perhaps due to task content, the relation seems to be mediated by fluid intelligence at this developmental stage

This paper aims to test the psychometric validity and reliability of a measure of first-year university students' expectations, based on a multidimensional conception of expectations. The sample consisted of 759 first-year students, attending various academic degrees at the Universities of Vigo - Ourense and University of Minho. The value Mdn age was 19, with only 5.3% with ages above 23 years. Participants answered a set of 56 items based on seven different dimensions of expectations. Results of confirmatory factor analysis, were carried out with LISREL. Factorial validity, and factors' convergent and discriminant validity were assured. These results, along with evidences reliability, suggest that the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire presents a final structure composed of seven expectation dimensions, including 42 items: Training for employment/career, Personal and social development, Student mobility, Political and citizenship involvement, Social pressure, Quality of education, and Social interaction. The equivalence of measurement model in the two languages and in two groups randomly derived from the full sample was also verified. The results of this structural validity study support the assessment of the expectations of first-year students in Higher Education with the questionnaire.

La finalidad fundamental de este trabajo se refiere al estudio y caracterización de las dificultades de aprendizaje que exhiben los alumnos de los tres últimos niveles de Educación Primaria. Con este fin se seleccionaron un total de 138 alumnos (71 niños y 67 niñas) que cursaban 4° (N=49), 5° (N=46) y 6° (N=43) de Educación Primaria. Estos niños fueron asignados a las distintas condiciones experimentales (dificultades aritméticas, competencia aritmética normal y alta competencia aritmética) en base a los resultados alcanzados en una prueba aritmética estandarizada creada para esta investigación, concretamente la Batería Neuropsicológica de Evaluación de las Habilidades Aritméticas (BANEVHAR), partiendo de una redefinición de la dificultad que aglutina criterios cualitativos y cuantitativos abandonando el criterio de discrepancia. Para el estudio de la dificultad se llevaron distintos estudios grupales comparativos en los que se analizó, a partir de los resultados obtenidos en la versión española del Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (D.N: CAS; Deaño, 2005a) y en las tareas de dígitos de la Escala de Inteligencia de Wechsler para niños-Revisada (Wechsler, 1993), la relación entre distintas habilidades intelectuales con la dificultad aritmética. Este estudio se complementó con distintos estudios correlacionales. Además se analizaron, a partir de los resultados alcanzados en las distintas tareas y escalas de la BANEVHAR, distintas características funcionales asociadas habitualmente a niños con dificultades aritméticas de menor edad. Finalmente se estudiaron, a través de distintos estudios de caso único, diferentes tipos de dificultades aritméticas en base a la propuesta teórica de partida que añade a la arquitectura propuesta inicialmente por McCloskey, Caramazza y Basili (1985) un componente que aglutina aspectos conceptuales aritméticos. Los resultados obtenidos relacionan las dificultades aritméticas con rendimientos inferiores en planificación, atención, amplitud de memoria de trabajo, procesamiento sucesivo y procesamiento simultáneo, especialmente con este último que se constituye en el principal predictor cognitivo de la dificultad aritmética. Por otro lado, estos niños muestran dificultades aritmeticas específicas similares a las recogidas en niños evaluados en momentos educativos anteriores a los de este estudio: errores en el conteo, velocidad de conteo lenta, debilidades conceptuales, altas tasas de error en la resolución de las tareas de cálculo, tiempos de recuperación más lentos, estrategias de resolución menos maduras y alteraciones en la implementación procedimental. Adicionalmente, el estudio establece que estos déficits responden a un retraso evolutivo específico que se va subsanando al final de la etapa educativa en una parte importante de las habilidades, aunque en algunos aspecto (i.e., comprensión del sistema decimal, conceptos aritméticos, aritmética mental y con multidígitos) se mantienen las dificultades. Finalmente, los resultados indican que la dificultad aritmética se presenta como un fenómeno complejo que puede implicar distintas manifestaciones: dificultades generalizadas, conceptuales, numéricas, globales en cálculo, factuales y procedimentales.