Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as “poor readers”

Abstract

This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled “Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility,” “Interference Suppression,” “Selective Attention,” and “Response Inhibition.” Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement.

The role of executive function and social‐emotional skills in the development of literacy and numeracy during preschool: a cross‐lagged longitudinal study

“…A smaller but growing body of evidence has examined associations between EF and reading outcomes. When analyzing the three components of EF separately, working memory was found to be the best predictor of reading among 6-to 8-year-olds in Brazil (Engel de Abreu et al, 2014). Several recent studies from Germany have found evidence of bidirectionality between EF (measured as a single latent construct) and young children's language skills, with language being a stronger predictor of EF development than vice versa (Meixner, Warner, Lensing, Schiefele, & Elsner, 2018;Slot & von Suchodoletz, 2018).…”

“…In reviewing the links between EF and math, Bull and Lee (2014) concluded that updating/working memory explains significant variation in math achievement, whereas the findings for shifting and inhibition are less robust. When analyzing the three components of EF separately, working memory was found to be the best predictor of reading among 6-to 8-year-olds in Brazil (Engel de Abreu et al, 2014). When analyzing the three components of EF separately, working memory was found to be the best predictor of reading among 6-to 8-year-olds in Brazil (Engel de Abreu et al, 2014).…”

Demystifying cognitive flexibility: Implications for clinical and developmental neuroscience

“…Cognitive flexibility enables an individual to work efficiently to disengage from a previous task, reconfigure a new response set, and implement this new response set to the task at hand. Greater cognitive flexibility is associated with favorable outcomes throughout the lifespan such as better reading abilities in childhood [3], higher resilience to negative life events and stress in adulthood [4], higher levels of creativity in adulthood [5], and better quality of life in older individuals [6]. Despite the widespread repercussions of intact cognitive flexibility throughout development and into adulthood, rigorous examination of this construct has been elusive.…”

“…In middle childhood, executive dysfunction previously masked may become apparent as children begin to be challenged academically and socially [45]. In particular, decreased levels of cognitive flexibility and working memory are associated with a range of academic deficits from reading to science [3]. In adolescence, intact EF is demonstrated as the ability to think through decisions before acting, requiring the inhibition of automatic responses, and the ability to make effective decisions given a desired goal [45].…”

Heterogeneity of executive functions among comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders

“…Executive functions (EFs), the mental control processes needed to carry out goal-directed behaviors1, are fundamental to successful daily functioning across the lifespan2345. EFs encompass several subdomains, including planning for future goals, inhibiting maladaptive responses, maintaining and manipulating information in working memory, and flexibly adapting behaviors to changes in the environment6.…”