Abstract
Children’s mathematical achievement depends on their domain-specific abilities and their domain-general skills such as executive functions (EFs) and visual-spatial skills (VSS). Research indicates that these two domain-general skills predict mathematical achievement. However, it is unclear whether these skills are differently associated with mathematical achievement across a large age range. The current cross-sectional study answered this question using a large, representative sample aged 5–20 years (N = 1754). EFs, VSS, and mathematical achievement were assessed using the Intelligence and Development Scales–2. Hierarchical regression analyses were computed with EFs and VSS as predictor variables and mathematical achievement as dependent variable. We examined (non-) linear effects and interactions of EFs and VSS with age. Results indicated that EFs and VSS were distinctly associated with mathematical achievement above and beyond effects of age, sex, maternal education, and verbal reasoning. Effects of EFs were linear and age-invariant. Effects of VSS were curvilinear and stronger in adolescents than in children. Our results indicated that EFs and VSS related differently to mathematical proficiency across age, suggesting a varying impact on mathematics across age.
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Notes
According to the instructions, the task was stopped when participants answered incorrectly in five subsequent items. Consequently, in some subjects, the termination of the test could also have been caused by geometry items. In order to achieve a complete correction of the test results with regard to the contributions of the geometry items, we estimated latent mathematical ability scores based on a two-parametric item-response model with the data of the completed math items only. We excluded all geometry items from the model. In this latent variable approach, the interaction term VSS*age showed a tendency (p = 0.057). The size of the effect, however, appears only slightly reduced as compared to the analyses with geometry items (βwithout geometry = 0.057 vs. βwith geometry = 0.070).
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Priska Hagmann-von Arx and Nora Newcombe for their input on the present research questions. Further, we thank our colleagues of the Division of Developmental and Personality Psychology for their helpful feedback during the brown bag meetings. A special thank goes to the research assistants who were in charge of data collection.
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Kahl, T., Grob, A., Segerer, R. et al. Executive Functions and Visual-Spatial Skills Predict Mathematical Achievement: Asymmetrical Associations Across Age. Psychological Research 85, 36–46 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01249-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01249-4