Investigating the Links between the Executive Function and Academic Performance: a Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective

Executive functioning (EF) constitutes abilities related to higher order cognitive processes that encompass a number of subdomains including judgment, decision making, and coordinating cognitive operations and social conduct. Miyake et al. (2000) argued that the EF construct consists of interrelated, but distinct, components—described as the ‘‘unity and diversity of EF’’. In their study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test this framework. The CFA extracted three correlated latent variables from several commonly used EF tasks. These latent variables represented three EF components—inhibition, working memory (WM), and shifting—that contributed differentially to performance on complex EF tasks. These EFs represent essential ingredients for optimal academic functioning, and are also one of the important potential sources of school dysfunction. Skills associated with the capacity to perform well academically are highly dependent upon abilities that fall under the EF umbrella. Recently, the link between EF and academic achievement has begun to be more systematically investigated, with EF seen as a multifaceted construct, related to multiple academic outputs. Although there is some consistency in the literature relating EF to academic achievement, relations between specific aspects of EF and achievement are more equivocal. The present study will be implemented during three years. First year, we will recruit 120 children halfway through and the end of grade 5/6. The aim is to determine the role of EFs in school achievement. Second year, a go/nogo task will be administered for groups of low, middle, and high ability for mathematics. Behavioral and event-related potential measures will be collected. Third year, we will recruit 100 children halfway through grade 7/8 to set up regression models to reveal the contribution of individual differences in EF performance to explain variance in mathematics and reading achievement.

Project ID:PF10301-1056
External Project ID:NSC101-2511-S182-003-MY3