Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as "poor readers".
Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as "poor readers".
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DOI：
10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00550
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发表时间：
2014
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Martin R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Engel de Abreu PM;Abreu N;Nikaedo CC;Puglisi ML;Tourinho CJ;Miranda MC;Befi-Lopes DM;Bueno OF;Martin R
本研究探讨了执行功能和阅读成就在106个6至8岁的巴西儿童从一系列的社会背景，其中约一半生活在贫困线以下。一个特别的重点是探索课堂阅读表现被老师判定低于标准的儿童的执行功能概况，并与实足年龄、性别、学校类型（私立或公立）、住所（萨尔瓦多/BA或圣保罗/SP）和社会经济地位进行匹配。儿童完成了12个执行功能任务的电池，概念挖掘认知灵活性，工作记忆，抑制和选择性注意。每个执行功能域由几个任务进行评估。主成分分析提取了四个因素，分别标记为“工作记忆/认知灵活性”，“干扰抑制”，“选择性注意”和“反应抑制”。执行功能成分的个体差异对早期阅读成绩有不同的贡献。工作记忆/认知灵活性因素成为阅读的最佳预测因子。计算因子得分的组比较表明，挣扎的读者显示工作记忆/认知灵活性的限制，但不是在其他执行功能组件相比，更熟练的读者。这些结果验证了工作记忆能力为早期识字技能的发展提供了一个重要的基石，并将其扩展到巴西葡萄牙语的早期读者群体。这项研究表明，工作记忆/认知灵活性的缺陷可能是早期读者阅读困难的一个促成因素。这可能对教育工作者如何干预有学业不良风险的儿童产生重要影响。
This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled “Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility,” “Interference Suppression,” “Selective Attention,” and “Response Inhibition.” Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement.