Semantic fluency including task switching predicts academic success in medical school.

Sabrina Kaufmann,Änne Glass,Brigitte Müller-Hilke,Peter Kropp,Jorge Leite

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0244456

Abstract

The future state treaty on the admission of students to German medical schools calls for a variety of selection criteria among which at least two are required to be independent of school leaving grades. Against this background, the present study investigated achievement motivation and executive functions as predictors of academic success in medical school. Second year medical students were assessed for executive functioning by using the Tower of London Test (ToL), a German version of the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), the Trail Making Test (TMT-A) and for motivation by using the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI). Academic success was evaluated twofold, i) whether the first state exam (M1) was passed at the earliest possible, after completion of the second year and ii) via the grades obtained. 81 out of 226 students enrolled participated in our study. Passing the M1 was best explained by semantic fluency including task switching. Moreover, academically successful students achieved significantly higher levels in the AMI-facets "compensatory effort" and "engagement". All students scored above average in the TMT-A and average in the ToL. Alternating semantic fluency-requiring simultaneously inhibition, updating and task shifting-turned out highly predictive of academic success in medical school. Moreover, higher levels in "compensatory effort" and "engagement" suggested that both, increased energy expenditure as response to fear of failure and elevated readiness to exert effort also impacted positively on success.

Highlights

Even though school leaving grades show very good prognostic validity for academic success in general and for medical studies in particular [1, 2], they are currently subject to controversial discussions concerning selection criteria for medical school
Passing the M1 was best explained by semantic fluency including task switching
We found a negative correlation between anxiety and semantic fluency including task switching [4]

Summary

Introduction

Even though school leaving grades show very good prognostic validity for academic success in general and for medical studies in particular [1, 2], they are currently subject to controversial discussions concerning selection criteria for medical school. According to the Supervisory Attentional System model (SAS), there are, on the one hand, automatized sequences of action that are retrieved in routine situations and require no control of consciousness (contention scheduling system). Miyake et al used operationalizations to summarize 3 core components of executive functions, which are i) inhibition of dominant or prepotent responses (“Inhibition”), ii) updating and monitoring of working memory representations (“Updating”) and iii) shifting between tasks or mental sets (“Shifting”) [9]. These core components are partly independent (diversity) they interact with each other (unity) [9, 10]. We used neurophysiological tests to discriminate if the capacity to inhibit, update, shift tasks or to plan and solve problems were positively related to academic achievements

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion