Abstract
This study aims to examine the role of mathematical achievement in explaining cultural differences in neuropsychological performance. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administrated to 54 individuals from two different cultures: (27 Spaniard and 27 Colombians). Several studies have demonstrated that the quality of education measured by reading ability tests may explain cultural differences in neuropsychological test performance. These studies have been conducted mostly among English speakers within the same educational system. Being a non-phonemic language, English allows for the reading of low-frequency words to be used as a measure of the quality of education. However, this might not be useful in the case of phonemic languages, such as Spanish. Moreover, it is difficult to compare the quality of education measured by reading ability in cultures with different languages or different educational systems. The results of this study reveal significant differences between these group on the majority of neuropsychological tests. All these differences disappeared when the effect of mathematical achievement was controlled. Thus, mathematical achievement may be considered as a measure of quality of education when studying cultural neuropsychological differences.
Highlights
There is clear evidence that cultural variables affect neuropsychological performance
The results showed that there were no differences between the Spanish and the Colombian groups according to age, gender, educational level, and monthly income
Differences were found between the Spanish and Colombian groups in performance on the majority of the neuropsychological tests used in this study
Summary
There is clear evidence that cultural variables affect neuropsychological performance. Researchers have found differences among individuals from different cultural backgrounds on both verbal and non verbal neuropsychological test performance (Agranovich, Panter, Puente & Touradji, 2011; Boone, Victor, Wen, Razani, & Pontón, 2007; Fasfous, Hidalgo-Ruzzante, Vilar-López, Catena-Martínez, & Pérez-García, 2013; Manly, Jacobs, Touradji, Small, & Stern, 2002; Rosselli & Ardila, 2003 ) These differences have traditionally been explained by variables such as education attainment, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity (e.g., Armengol, 2002; Boone et al, 2007; Byrd, Sánchez, & Manly, 2005; Rosselli & Ardila, 2003). Additional research is needed to understand how cultural variables may influence neuropsychological performance
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