Executive functions and the early acquisition of mathematical skills

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Executive functions and the early acquisition of mathematical skills Patrizia Cimeli1*, Regula Neuenschwander1, Marianne Röthlisberger1 and Claudia M. Roebers1 1 University of Bern, Institute of Psychology, Switzerland In recent years, there has been growing interest in the development of cognitive abilities such as updating, inhibition and attentional control, also known as executive functions. Executive functions appear to be associated with activity in the prefrontal regions of the cortex, the typical “human” area which undergoes pronounced changes and differentiations during infancy, childhood and adolescence. Within a large body of evidence that emphasize the relationship between executive functioning and reasoning abilities, recent studies increasingly explore the relationship between executive functions and scholastic abilities such as mathematical skills, reading and writing found in normal children as well as in children with dyslexia or dyscalculia. Findings of reliable relations between executive functions and mathematical skills fit well with neuroscientific evidence suggesting an overlap in the neural substrates supporting executive functions as well as numerical ability and quantitative reasoning. To date, there are only few studies including math abilities and different aspects of executive functions. Thus, it is still unclear how the different components of executive functions are related to specific mathematical abilities in school-age children. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the extent to which distinct aspects of executive functions are associated with different mathematical skills including simple problems of numerosity and complex math problems - most of them extracted from standardized tests for mathematics. Updating, inhibition and attentional control were measured using backwards colour span, fruit-stroop and cognitive flexibility task by a total of N = 49 8-year-old normally developing children, enrolled in second class of primary school. Results reveal that all executive functions except inhibition were moderately related to an overall mathematical ability score, even when controlling for child`s age and speed of processing. Results are discussed in comparison with other results obtained with school-age children and regarding their practical and theoretical implications. Conference: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education, Zurich, Switzerland, 3 Jun - 5 Jun, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Arithmetic and higher-order mathematics Citation: Cimeli P, Neuenschwander R, Röthlisberger M and Roebers CM (2010). Executive functions and the early acquisition of mathematical skills. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.11.00008 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 May 2010; Published Online: 26 May 2010. * Correspondence: Patrizia Cimeli, University of Bern, Institute of Psychology, Bern, Switzerland, patrizia.cimeli@psy.unibe.ch Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers Google Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers Google Scholar Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers PubMed Patrizia Cimeli Regula Neuenschwander Marianne Röthlisberger Claudia M Roebers Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.