Uma metanálise de estudos longitudinais sobre a relação entre as funções executivas e a matemática

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between executive functions (EF) and mathematical skills throughout development through a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Twenty-five studies conducted with children and adolescents (n = 103,198; MInitialAge = 5.15 and MFinalAge = 8.3) were included in the meta-analysis. A random effects model was employed, and the effect size between EF and mathematics was moderate and significant (r = 0.33, 95% CI [0.28, 0.38]). Considering the components of EF, working memory showed the strongest correlation with mathematics (r = 0.39, 95% CI [0.35, 0.44]), followed by cognitive flexibility (r = 0.33, CI 95% [0.28, 0.37]) and inhibitory control (r = 0.22, 95% CI [0.17, 0.26]). In general, the results of the analyzes showed that while the strength of the correlation between inhibitory control and mathematics did not vary significantly according to the mathematics measures considered, the strength of the correlations between working memory and cognitive flexibility varied, with general math test measures being most strongly correlated with working memory (r = 0.43, 95% CI [0.36 0.49]) and cognitive flexibility (r = 0.36, 95% CI [0 .32 0]) .40]) than calculation measures (r = 0.33, 95% CI [0.29 0.37] for working memory and r = 0.19, 95% CI [0.13 0,25] for cognitive flexibility). Age did not moderate the relationship between EF and mathematics. The results of this metaanalysis showed that EF and its subcomponents have good predictive power for performance in mathematics and indicate the importance of screening the development of EF for implementing intervention strategies that aim to prevent difficulties in learning mathematics.