Traditional and alternative scores in performance tests to measure executive functions: differential associations with children’s academic performance

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ABSTRACT This study explores the relationship between children’s academic performance and their results on cognitive function tests. Traditionally, cognitive test scores often reflect overall accuracy or speed. Yet, these overall scores are often influenced by both diverse executive functions (EF) and non-EF cognitive processes. To isolate specific cognitive functions, alternative scoring methods have been developed, which aim to measure one cognitive function more purely. We investigated whether combining traditional overall scores with alternative scores claiming to measure strategy use improves the prediction of children’s academic performance. Three cognitive tests were administered: Verbal Fluency test, Design Fluency test, and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test, alongside factors such as age, IQ, sex, and parental education, in a sample of 132 Dutch-speaking children (aged 9.48–12.63 years; 61 girls). For each test, we calculated traditional total scores and alternative scores. Academic performance was assessed using arithmetic and reading tests, along with secondary school advice. The findings indicate that both traditional and alternative scores positively correlate with secondary school advice and children’s arithmetic and reading performance, but not with parental reports. Combining traditional and alternative scores enhances predictive accuracy for only arithmetic outcomes. However, once IQ was controlled for, the predictive value of alternative scores focused on strategy use diminished. Consequently, our findings suggest that combining both scoring methods can offer a superior prediction of academic outcomes, at least in arithmetic, underscoring their merit in psychodiagnostics assessment.