TITLE:
Neuropsychological Performance of Adolescents with High and Low School Performance
AUTHORS:
María del Rosario Bonilla-Sánchez, Grecia Guadalupe Anguiano García, Marco Antonio García Flores, Ernesto Vladimir Ramírez Arroyo
KEYWORDS:
Regulation and Control, Spatial Analysis and Synthesis, Neuropsychological Performance, Adolescence
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.9 No.13,
December
10,
2018
ABSTRACT: The attainment of the school activity is comprised of the functional maturation of specific brain structures. The neuropsychological analysis enables to determine weak and strong neuropsychological factors in the course of development. The objective was to show the characteristics of the performance of normotypical adolescents during tasks which evaluate the “analysis and spatial synthesis” and “regulation and control” neuropsychological factors in adolescents with high and low academic performance. A total of 48 adolescents, between 12 and 15 years old, who attended middle school in an urban public institution in Puebla, México, were assessed. Groups of students with high (24) and low (24) academic performance of the three grades were formed. The qualitative neuropsychological assessment was process-oriented, including the specific quirks of execution of the tasks that assess the functional status of the neuropsychological factors proposed by A. R. Luria. Mixed analysis was implemented. The results reveal functional weakness of the neuropsychological factors “regulation and control” and “spatial analysis” (in the global spatial perceptual modality) in the group with low performance, and a systemic effect in the assessment tasks: visual and verbal retention and alertness. The incorporation of neuropsychology in the educational systems is the key.