![]() The central executive controls the allocation of resources between the phonological loop and the visual-spatial sketch pad, schedules multiple cognitive activities, and is able to revise the content of memory in light of new and relevant information. Assessment of these slave systems is typically made using short-term memory tasks where small amounts of material are held and reproduced in a sequential fashion, with minimal resources needed from long-term memory to interpret the task and no additional competing cognitive demands (e.g., digit span, word recall, Corsi blocks, visual-patterns task). The two “slave” systems of working memory, the phonological loop and the visual-spatial sketch pad, are specialized for processing language-based and visuo-spatial information, respectively. Many studies have used the working memory model of Baddeley and Hitch (1974, see also Baddeley, 1996, 2000) as a framework within which to study a range of cognitive skills, and recent work indicates that working memory is a core mechanism underlying individual differences in Gf. As such, it is argued that such fluid cognitive capacities (or Gf) should predict learning in evolutionarily novel contexts such as school and the workplace.Ĭognitive studies of mathematical achievement and disorder provide a valuable insight into the deficits that might underlie difficulties in learning mathematics. Such abilities can also be referred to as fluid intelligence (Gf) and represent a biologically based ability to acquire skills and knowledge during the lifespan (see Geary, 2007 for a review). pointed out that it is essential to assess these fluid cognitive capacities, skills that are not knowledge based and generally less determined by socioeconomic factors, but which allow us to engage in complex cognitive operations. However, such learning opportunities also interact with a basic cognitive capacity for learning, and Gathercole et al. ![]() Clearly, these predictor variables are a simplified form of the complex skill they are predicting, and Gathercole, Pickering, Knight, and Stegman (2004) argued that such basic skills represent crystallized knowledge (or what Cattell referred to as crystallized intelligence (Gc)) built up on the basis of experiences in the home, nursery school, and other social settings, and referenced by over-learned skills and knowledge such as vocabulary. Tymms (1999) referred to these as “general developed abilities,” which includes skills (at school entry) such as letter recognition, spelling, and phonemic awareness as precursors to reading, and number recognition, magnitude understanding, and counting as precursors to mathematics (see Geary, Hamson, & Hoard 2000 Geary, Hoard, & Hamson, 1999). Higher level achievement will depend to some extent on the basic skills that feed into more complex reading and mathematical abilities. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to further understanding the role of cognitive skills in different mathematical tasks, and in relation to the impact of limited cognitive skills in the classroom environment.Ĭhildren's performance in mathematics and reading achievement in schools is influenced by a number of contributing factors. Correlational and regression analyses revealed that visual short-term and working memory were found to specifically predict math achievement at each time point, while executive function skills predicted learning in general rather than learning in one specific domain. ![]() Visual-spatial short-term memory span was found to be a predictor specifically of math ability. Growth curve analyses examined predictors of math and reading achievement across the duration of the study and revealed that better digit span and executive function skills provided children with an immediate head start in math and reading that they maintained throughout the first three years of primary school. Children were tested in preschool ( M age = 4 years, 6 months) on a battery of cognitive measures, and mathematics and reading outcomes (from standardized, norm-referenced school-based assessments) were taken on entry to primary school, and at the end of the first and third year of primary school. This study examined whether measures of short-term memory, working memory, and executive functioning in preschool children predict later proficiency in academic achievement at 7 years of age (third year of primary school). ![]()
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