Executive Functions development in preschoolers from different socioeconomic backgrounds in Uruguay

VERÓNICA NIN; HERNÁN DELGADO; ANDREA P. GOLDIN; DIEGO FERNANDEZ SLEZAK; LAOUEN BELLOLI; ALEJANDRA CARBONI

Conferencia; Biennial Conference of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society; 2016

Twenty percent of Uruguayan children grow up in poverty. Despite overwhelming evidence that links low socioeconomic status (SES) to poor academic achievement (1), the developmental trajectories of preschoolers that develop in impoverished contexts has not been quantitatively evaluated in our country. In addition, it has been shown that some short computer-based and traditional games interventions aimed at training cognitive processes are effective in children (2-6), although not all have shown consistent transfer to untrained processes (5,7). In Uruguay, the plan Ceibal provides tablets to all schools with elementary education. In the present project we have partnered with the developers of the gaming platform MateMarote (https://www.facebook.com/MateMaroteOK/) to study the effect of SES on the development of basic cognitive processes, and the impact of a short stimulation intervention in 5 year-old preschoolers. We show that SES has a deep impact in some basic executive functions (EF), such as cognitive control and flexibility, and higher order EFs, such as planning, and fluid intelligence. Working memory does not show a strong correlation with SES, and mental rotation of images is similar in all SES levels. An intervention with MateMarote for 8 weeks improves performance in two of the most affected functions: cognitive control and flexibility.