Working memory (WM) is a predictor of school learning. This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of verbal and non-verbal working memory (WM) on students’ performance in arithmetic. 126 children between 6 and 11 years old participated in the research. The instruments were: School Performance Test, Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices, Corsi Block-tapping Test, and Digits Subtest. The results showed strong and positive correlations of school performance with fluid intelligence r = 0.64, with verbal WM and non-verbal WM, both with r = 0.51 (p < 0.001). After multiple linear regression, it was found that the performance in visuospatial WM was a strong predictor for arithmetic, an effect not found for reading. The regression showed that WM explains 38% of the variance for arithmetic. It is concluded that WM has an expressive contribution to school performance, being more specific the contributions of visuospatial WM for arithmetic.
O desempenho escolar faz parte do desenvolvimento de crianças e adolescentes, sendo um importante preditor de sucesso na vida adulta. O objetivodeste estudo foi investigar a relação entre inteligência e desempenho acadêmico, analisando a influência da idade, sexo e escola. Participaram 196 criançascom idade entre 6 a 11 anos, de escolas públicas e particulares da cidade de Vitória da Conquista, BA. Foram aplicados os Teste de Desempenho Escolare as Matrizes Progressivas Coloridas de Raven. As análises foram feitas através dos seguintes testes: correlação de Spearman e Kendall. Os resultadosmostraram correlações moderadas e significativas entre inteligência e desempenho escolar (rho=0,57; p<0,05), o que demonstra a importância daavaliação da inteligência em casos de dificuldades de aprendizagem.
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