Executive and Attentional Functioning in School-Aged Children according to the Behavioral Profile Rated by their Teachers

ARÁN FILIPPETTI, VANESSA; KRUMM, GABRIELA LILIANA

International Journal of Psychological Research

Universidad de San Buenaventura

Lugar: Medellín; Año: 2013 vol. 6 p. 101 - 109

2011-2084

The present study aimed at analysing the connection between school-aged children´s performance in neuropsychological tests that examine the executive function (EF) and attention, and their behavioural profiles (i.e., Attention Deficit (AD) and Hyperactivity (HD)), as informed by their teachers. For the assessment of EF and attentional mechanisms, different tasks were administered to a sample comprising 124 3rd-6th graders. In addition, teachers from each grade completed a behavioral rating scale for every child. Bifactorial MANCOVA was used in order to analyze the effect of both AD and HD factors, controlling for the intelligence. Results demonstrated significant differences according to AD levels in tasks that assess (i) selective attention, (ii) working memory, (iii) reactive cognitive flexibility (iv) verbal fluency and (v) reflexivity-impulsivity. Conversely, HD results showed relevant variations only in terms of the number of errors made in the MFFT20. This work provides evidence on the relationship between children´s behaviour within the school setting and their cognitive performance.