Relations between executive functions and academic achievements in primary school children

Although the relations between executive functions and academic achievement are considered widely proven, due to the methodological limitations of most studies little can be said about the relational importance of various executive functions for achievements in math, reading, and writing. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the role of different executive functions postulated by Miyake et al. (2000) (response inhibition, working memory updating, and mental set shifting) on academic achievements in math, reading, and writing as well as the possible mediation effects of cognitive (verbal and performance intelligence) and behavioral variables (learning-related behavior and hyperactivity). In total, 101 children were tested in the second grade of a primary school on nine simple computer tasks intended to predominantly tap one of the three executive abilities: response inhibition, mental set shifting, and working memory updating. In addition, all participants completed the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI). The construct validity of the executive function tasks was established by a confirmatory factor analysis: consistent with other latent variable studies of executive function, the three target executive abilities proved to be separable and 2000; Rose et al., 2011). Academic achievement was evaluated by a teacher’s report. The research variables of hyperactivity and learning-related behavior were composed using teachers’ answers to the questions from the Hyperactivity Scale of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the parents’ and teachers’ answers to additional questions concerning children’s learning-related behavior..