(1998). Human cognitive abilities: A survey of factor analytic studies. Gifted and Talented International: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 97-98.

Human cognitive abilities: A survey of factor analytic studies

Working memory and mathematics: A review of developmental, individual difference, and cognitive approaches.

This study examined developmental associations between growth in domain-general cognitive processes (working memory and attention control) and growth in domain-specific skills (emergent literacy and numeracy) across the prekindergarten year and their relative contributions to kindergarten reading and math achievement. One hundred sixty-four Head Start children (44% African American or Latino; 57% female) were followed longitudinally. Path analyses revealed that working memory and attention control predicted growth in emergent literacy and numeracy skills during the prekindergarten year and that growth in these domain-general cognitive skills made unique contributions to the prediction of kindergarten math and reading achievement, controlling for growth in domain-specific skills. These findings extend research highlighting the importance of working memory and attention control for academic learning, demonstrating the effects in early childhood, prior to school entry. Implications of these findings for prekindergarten programs are discussed, particularly those designed to reduce the school readiness gaps associated with socioeconomic disadvantage.

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The Development of Cognitive Skills and Gains in Academic School Readiness for Children from Low-Income Families.

Working memory is important for online language processing during conversation. We use it to maintain relevant information, to inhibit or ignore irrelevant information, and to attend to conversation selectively. Working memory helps us to keep track of and actively participate in conversation, including taking turns and following the gist. This paper examines the Ease of Language Understanding model (i.e., the ELU model, Ronnberg, 2003; Ronnberg et al., 2008) in light of new behavioral and neural findings concerning the role of working memory capacity (WMC) in uni-modal and bimodal language processing. The new ELU model is a meaning prediction system that depends on phonological and semantic interactions in rapid implicit and slower explicit processing mechanisms that both depend on WMC albeit in different ways. It is based on findings that address the relationship between WMC and (a) early attention processes in listening to speech, (b) signal processing in hearing aids and its effects on short-term memory, (c) inhibition of speech maskers and its effect on episodic long-term memory, (d) the effects of hearing impairment on episodic and semantic long-term memory, and finally, (e) listening effort. New predictions and clinical implications are outlined. Comparisons with other WMC and speech perception models are made.

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The Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model: Theoretical, empirical, and clinical advances

This paper summarizes twenty studies, published since 1989, that have measured experimentally the relationship between speech recognition in noise and some aspect of cognition, using statistical techniques such as correlation or factor analysis. The results demonstrate that there is a link, but it is secondary to the predictive effects of hearing loss, and it is somewhat mixed across study. No one cognitive test always gave a significant result, but measures of working memory (especially reading span) were mostly effective, whereas measures of general ability, such as IQ, were mostly ineffective. Some of the studies included aided listening, and two reported the benefits from aided listening: again mixed results were found, and in some circumstances cognition was a useful predictor of hearing-aid benefit.

Are individual differences in speech reception related to individual differences in cognitive ability? A survey of twenty experimental studies with normal and hearing-impaired adults

Working memory deficit in children with mathematical difficulties: A general or specific deficit?

Background. The study was conducted in an attempt to further our understanding of how working memory contributes to written arithmetical skills in children. Aim. The aim was to pinpoint the contribution of different central executive functions and to examine the contribution of the two subcomponents of children's written arithmetical skills. Sample and method. A total of 141 third- and fourth-graders were administered arithmetical tasks and measures of working memory, fluid IQ and reading. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between working memory and written arithmetical skills. Results. Three central executive measures (counting span, trail making and verbal fluency) and one phonological loop measure (Digit Span) were significant and predictors of arithmetical performance when the influence of reading, age and IQ was controlled for in the analysis. Conclusions. The present findings demonstrate that working memory, in general, and the central executive, in particular, contribute to children's arithmetical skills. It was hypothesized that monitoring and coordinating multiple processes, and accessing arithmetical knowledge from long-term memory, are important central executive functions during arithmetical performance. The contribution of the phonological loop and the central executive (concurrent processing and storage of numerical information) indicates that children aged 9-10 years primarily utilize verbal coding strategies during written arithmetical performance. © 2008 The British Psychological Society.

Working memory as a predictor of written arithmetical skills in children: the importance of central executive functions

Arithmetic and cognitive skills of children with mathematical difficulties (MD-only), with comorbid reading difficulties (MD-RD), with reading difficulties (RD-only), and normally achieving children were examined at 3 points from Grades 3-4 to Grades 5-6 (age range, 9-13 years). Both MD groups displayed severe weaknesses in 4 domain-specific arithmetic components (factual, conceptual, procedural, and problem-solving skills) during all 3 measure points. Telling time and approximate arithmetic were also problematic for children with MD. Both MD groups displayed a small weakness related to visual-spatial working memory, and the MD-RD group also displayed small weaknesses related to verbal short-term memory, processing speed, and executive functions. The 4 groups developed at similar rates within all domain-specific components as well as basic cognitive functions. These findings demonstrate that children identified as having MD when they are 9 years old do not catch up with their normally achieving peers in later school grades, when they are 13 years old. They also continue to lag behind their peers with respect to the domain-general cognitive system.

Skill Development in Different Components of Arithmetic and Basic Cognitive Functions: Findings From a 3-Year Longitudinal Study of Children With Different Types of Learning Difficulties

Thirty-one patients with clinical and laboratory diagnoses of infectious mononucleosis who had had symptoms for seven or fewer days were randomized for intravenous treatment with acyclovir (10 mg/kg) or placebo at 8-hr intervals for seven days in a double-blind trial. Clinical signs and symptoms were registered, and excretion of virus in the saliva as well as antibody responses in sera and saliva were assessed before, during, and at regular intervals in the six months after treatment. Acyclovir significantly (P less than .001), but reversibly, inhibited oropharyngeal shedding of Epstein-Barr virus. The humoral and cellular immune responses, however, did not differ between the two groups; nor did the development of viral latency. There were no significant (P greater than .05) differences in individual clinical symptoms or in laboratory parameters between the two groups; however, when data concerning duration of fever, weight loss, tonsillar swelling, pharyngitis, and self-assessment by the patient were combined, a significant (P less than or equal to .01) effect of treatment with acyclovir was evident.

Effect of Acyclovir on Infectious Mononucleosis: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

The mathematical performance of 182 third and fourth graders in 8 different areas of mathematics was examined. The children belonged to 4 achievement groups: children with mathematic difficulties (MD only), children with both mathematic and reading difficulties (MD-RD), children with reading difficulties (RD only), and normally achieving children (control group). Both MD groups performed worse than the normally achieving children in all but 1 area, place value knowledge. The MD-only and the MD-RD children performed equally in all areas of mathematics. The RD-only group performed at the same level as the control group on all areas of mathematics. The study provides further evidence that fact retrieval deficits are a cardinal characteristic of children with MD. The MD children's substantial difficulties with mathematic word problem solving can be attributed to several processes involved in problem solving. Besides poor skills in multidigit calculation, arithmetic fact retrieval, and poor understanding of calculation principles, children with MD might have deficits related to specific problem-solving processes such as establishing a problem representation and developing a solution plan.

Ulf Andersson

Papers

Working memory deficit in children with mathematical difficulties: A general or specific deficit?

Working memory as a predictor of written arithmetical skills in children: the importance of central executive functions

Skill Development in Different Components of Arithmetic and Basic Cognitive Functions: Findings From a 3-Year Longitudinal Study of Children With Different Types of Learning Difficulties

Effect of Acyclovir on Infectious Mononucleosis: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

Mathematical competencies in children with different types of learning difficulties.