Difficulties in inhibitory processes have been shown to characterize the performance of poor comprehenders. However, the inhibitory inefficiency of poor comprehenders is most often assessed by their resistance to proactive interference, that is, the ability to suppress off-goal task information from working memory (WM). In two studies tasks assessing resistance to proactive interference (intrusion errors), response to distracters (Text With Distracters task) and prepotent response inhibition (Stroop and Hayling tests), along with WM measures, were administered to children aged 10 to 11, both good and poor comprehenders. The aim of the study was to specifically determine whether general or specific inhibitory factors affect poor comprehenders' reading difficulties. Results showed that poor comprehenders, compared to good ones, are impaired in WM tasks and in inhibitory tasks that assess resistance to proactive interference. This suggests that reading comprehension difficulties of poor comprehenders are related to specific inhibitory problems.

Results suggest that working memory and self-concept could be worth considering when designing interventions aimed at helping students with math anxiety. Longitudinal designs could also be used to better understand the mediational mechanisms that may explain the relationship between math anxiety and math performance.

The n-back task is a frequently used measure of working memory (WM) in cognitive neuroscience research contexts, and it has become widely adopted in other areas over the last decade. This study aimed to obtain normative data for the n-back task from a large sample of children and adolescents. To this end, a computerized verbal n-back task with three levels of WM load (1-back, 2-back, and 3-back) was administered to 3722 Spanish school children aged 7–13 years. Results showed an overall age-related increase in performance for the different levels of difficulty. This trend was less pronounced at 1-back than at 2-back when hits were considered. Gender differences were also observed, with girls outperforming boys although taking more time to respond. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed. Normative data stratified by age and gender for the three WM load levels are provided.

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This study examined family factors reported by parents and their children in relation to children's academic competence. Adolescents and their parents (N=323) reported about the same family characteristics: parental acceptance and involvement in the children's education. Measures related to children's academic competence were: academic competence rated by the teacher, self‐reported grades, perceived academic competence and motivational orientation. The results revealed low interrater agreement in family measures. Moreover, ratings by children about parenting characteristics seem higher than those of their parents in predicting academic‐related measures. This was true especially in the case of children's reports on acceptance. However, in the case of involvement, parent's reports contributed towards predicting a higher number of variables.

El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la relación existente entre los estilos educativos de los padres (democráticos, permisivos, autoritarios e indiferentes) y distintas áreas vinculadas con el rendimiento académico de los hijos. Participaron 372 chicos y chicas de entre 11 y 15 años de edad que evaluaron a sus padres en función del afecto y del control que percibían. Además, cumplimentaron diversas medidas para evaluar su rendimiento académico, su motivación académica, su competencia académica percibida y sus atribuciones sobre las causas del éxito escolar. Los resultados mostraron un patrón claro y consistente en el que los hijos que percibían a sus padres como democráticos o permisivos lograban las puntuaciones más altas en las diferentes áreas analizadas. Los resultados se discuten considerando las dimensiones de afecto y control que subyacen a los distintos estilos educativos de los padres. Palabras clave: Estilos educativos de los padres, rendimiento académico.

This study analyzed the mechanisms involved in possible transfer effects for two different working memory updating (WMU) training programs administered to young adults and based on two updating paradigms: n -back and arithmetical updating. The influence of practice distribution on transfer effects was also explored by including two training regimens: massed and spaced practice. Performance on different WMU tasks more or less structurally similar to the tasks used in the training was assessed to analyze the nearest transfer effects. Near and far transfer effects were tested using complex working memory (WM) and fluid intelligence tasks. The results showed that the WMU training produced gains in only some of the WMU tasks structurally similar to those used in the training, not in those lacking the same structure, or in WM or fluid intelligence tasks. These limited nearest transfer effects suggest that gains could be due to the acquisition of a specific strategy appropriate for the task during the training rather than to any improvement in the updating process per se. Performance did not differ depending on the training regimen.