Relación entre funciones ejecutivas y desempeño matemático en estudiantes de sexto año de educación general básica

Abstract

In recent years, neuropsychology has focused on Executive Functions (EF), in different social, cultural and economic environments, research has been carried out from this perspective, finding functions of great complexity present in the human being such as: planning, decision making, mental flexibility, metacognition, inhibition, memory and attention; these developed fundamentally in childhood and adolescence, and play an important role in learning mathematics. The main objective of this study has been to establish the relationship between mathematical performance and EF in sixth year students of Basic General Education (EGB in Spanish). The research had a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional perspective together with a correlational scope. The data collected here was analyzed through measures of central tendency, data dispersion, and non-parametric tests. The sample consisted of 32 students, 14 boys and 18 girls, from 120 to 155 months of age ( = 130.56). Two instruments were used, the mathematics report card, and the ENFEN battery: Neuropsychological Evaluation of Executive Functions in Children (Portellano, Martínez & Zumarraga, 2009). The results showed that there is no statistically significant correlation between math performance and students' EFs. It was found in the participants who had a medium level of mathematical performance, a medium level in the gray path and rings tests, and low levels in phonological and semantic fluency, interference and color path. Regarding the sex of the students, differences were found in mathematical performance, where girls had higher scores, and in the rings test, boys achieved better scores.