Abstract
The relationship between cognitive abilities and academic achievement across schooling from the first to the eleventh grade was analyzed. Information processing speed, visuospatial working memory, number sense, and fluid intelligence were considered predictors of general academic achievement, which was derived from grades in mathematics, language, and biology. This cross-sectional study involved 1560 pupils who were in grades 1–11 at general education schools and were aged from 6.8 to 19.1 years (50.4% were boys). Information processing speed, visuospatial working memory, and number sense were measured using the Choice Reaction Time, Corsi Block-Tapping, and Number Sense computerized tests, respectively. Fluid intelligence was measured using the paper-and-pencil version of the Standard Progressive Matrices test. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were carried out. It was shown that it is possible to describe the structure of the relationship between cognitive abilities and academic achievement for all levels of schooling with a single model. In this model, information processing speed is the key predictor of fluid intelligence, working memory, and number sense, which in turn contribute to individual differences in academic success. Additionally, the specificity of the relationship between individual indicators of cognitive abilities and academic achievement at each level of schooling was revealed.
Highlights
IntroductionThe task of predicting academic achievement has been relevant for more than a century, and during this time, various psychological constructs have been analyzed as predictors of academic success [1,2,3,4].Studies have shown that academic achievement is largely related to the individual characteristics of basic cognitive processes, i.e., information processing speed, visuospatial working memory, and number sense [2,5,6,7,8], as well as higher-order cognitive processes, such as primarily fluid intelligence [1,3,5,9,10].Information processing speed is the ability to accurately and quickly process incoming information and underlies individual differences in academic success [2,11] and higher-order cognitive abilities [12,13]
Model 3—which posits that information processing speed is a key predictor of fluid intelligence, working memory, and number sense, which in turn contribute to general academic success—is the best fit with the data obtained in this study
The results show that the relationships between cognitive characteristics and academic success differ at each level of schooling
Summary
The task of predicting academic achievement has been relevant for more than a century, and during this time, various psychological constructs have been analyzed as predictors of academic success [1,2,3,4].Studies have shown that academic achievement is largely related to the individual characteristics of basic cognitive processes, i.e., information processing speed, visuospatial working memory, and number sense [2,5,6,7,8], as well as higher-order cognitive processes, such as primarily fluid intelligence [1,3,5,9,10].Information processing speed is the ability to accurately and quickly process incoming information and underlies individual differences in academic success [2,11] and higher-order cognitive abilities [12,13]. Studies have shown that academic achievement is largely related to the individual characteristics of basic cognitive processes, i.e., information processing speed, visuospatial working memory, and number sense [2,5,6,7,8], as well as higher-order cognitive processes, such as primarily fluid intelligence [1,3,5,9,10]. A direct relationship with academic achievement [14] and the absence of this relationship [15] have been shown to be indicators of information processing speed at certain ages, and theoretical models have been built in which information processing speed influences higher-order cognitions, which in turn influence individual differences in academic outcomes [10,13,16,17].
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