Boy-Girl Differences in Pictorial Verbal Learning in Students Aged 8-12 Years and the Influence of Parental Education.

Marleen A J Van Tetering,Jelle Jolles,Renate H M De Groot

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01380

Abstract

This large-scale cross-sectional study of schoolchildren aged 8–12 years (N = 152) evaluates two factors which potentially determine individual differences in intentional learning: the child’s sex and parental education. Intentional learning was assessed with a newly constructed Pictorial Verbal Learning Task (PVLT). This task presents line drawings of concrete objects as to-be-remembered information instead of written or auditory presented words. The PVLT has the advantage that performance is not confounded by individual differences in reading or hearing abilities. Results revealed clear sex differences in performance: Girls outperformed boys. Parental education also contributed to individual differences in performance since children of higher educated parents outperformed children of lower educated parents. The results therefore suggest that both sex and parental education could be potent contributors to individual differences in learning performance at school. The findings more specifically imply that children of less educated parents and boys need additional guidance and support in intentional learning when new information and procedures are presented for the first time.

Highlights

Intentional learning is of key importance for the acquisition of new information and for academic performance
In order to investigate sex differences and the importance of level of parental education (LPE) to intentional learning without major confounding by pre-existing differences in reading and hearing abilities, the present study introduces a newly developed task; the Pictorial Verbal Learning Task (PVLT)
This study investigated whether the child’s sex and LPE contributed to individual differences in intentional learning in students aged 8–12 years

Summary

Introduction

Intentional learning is of key importance for the acquisition of new information and for academic performance. The process of intentional learning can typically be described as having the purpose of learning information and committing it to one’s memory (Thomas and Rohwer, 1986; Lezak et al, 2012; Hampshire et al, 2016). The ability of intentional learning typically improves with experience and with age (Meijer et al, 2006, 2007; Meijs et al, 2013, 2016; Blachstein and Vakil, 2016). It appears that there are major individual differences in the pace at which intentional learning develops at the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence (Meijer et al, 2007; Jolles, 2016; Meijs et al, 2016; Juraska and Willing, 2017).

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Discussion

Conclusion