Clustering of neuropsychological data: cognitive functions assessment in children aged 6–9 years

Abstract

The aim of this project is an investigation of the state of cognitive functions in older preschool and primary-school-age children. At this age, there is a considerable development and maturation of various components of cognitive functions, and large individual variability of their condition is observed. In the article, we tried to divide a large sample of children with normative development into groups with different neuropsychological profiles according to the strengths and weaknesses of various components of cognitive functions.
 A sample of 484 children between the ages of 6 and 9 years old underwent a Lurian face-to-face neuropsychological examination and the computerized neuropsychological assessment. In each of the tests, key parameters were identified to evaluate three groups of cognitive functions: executive functions, visual-spatial information processing, auditory information processing. Then a cluster analysis was carried out, which allowed us to identify five groups of subjects: children with a high level of cognitive functions; children with executive function weakness; children with low auditory information processing; children with low visual-spatial information processing; children with a low level of cognitive functions. With the help of other complex neuropsychological tests, we verified this division into groups. The data obtained confirm the idea of uneven development of cognitive functions in children aged 6–9 years with normative development. These results can be used in further research of theoretical issues of cognitive development, and for practical purposes in neuropsychologist correction.