|
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2023.3.43891
EDN: WVJFUM
Received:
24-08-2023
Published:
03-09-2023
Abstract:
The paper presents the results of an experimental study aimed at identifying psychophysiological predictors of learning success among students of grades 1-11 of secondary schools. The study involved 611 children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years. The results of sensorimotor tests of varying complexity were analyzed, assessing the reaction time to auditory and visual stimuli. The results of the parents' questionnaire were also taken into account. It is shown that only complex sensorimotor tests, during which the child must respond to targeted combinations of visual stimuli, ignoring all other stimuli, have predictive significance that allows predicting the success of a child in learning. Previously, the same results were obtained by us for elementary school students. The present study allowed us to establish that complex sensorimotor tests predict success in learning throughout the entire period of schooling from grades 1 to 11. Children who showed high results in complex sensorimotor tests significantly study better, and their parents believe that school grades correspond to the abilities of children. It was also found that girls study better, and the use of gadgets for more than one hour a day has a negative impact on the success of children in learning.
Keywords:
sensorimotor tests, reaction time, children, learning success, sensorimotor integration, cognitive abilities, executive functions, sensorimotor reactions, visual-motor reaction, abilities
This article is automatically translated.
Introduction. The tradition of measuring various parameters of a person's reaction time to evaluate intellectual indicators is based on the theoretical ideas of several researchers. This tradition is the result of ideas about sensorimotor integration as the basis of cognitive abilities [3], as well as G. Eysenck's views on the nature of intelligence, in which the speed of information transmission in the nervous system is described as the biological basis of intelligence [1]. Currently, the study of human speed characteristics is actively continuing in a variety of tasks [16,17,18,21]. The most developed areas are those related to the success of athletes in various sports [5,8,14]. Reaction time in elderly people is also being studied, as it is related to their safety [12,15]. There are fewer papers evaluating the relationship of reaction time with academic performance. As a rule, studies were conducted on small samples [9,22]. It is shown that the reaction time in sensorimotor tests is associated with the level of formation of executive functions [13,19,20]. Previously, we used the assessment of various parameters of simple and complex sensorimotor reactions to predict the success of a child's education in primary school [6,7,10]. We have shown a high prognostic significance of the parameters of a complex visual-motor reaction for the assumption of what the average annual assessment the child will have at the end of the year. At the same time, it was shown that, starting from the 4th grade, the educational motivation of schoolchildren changes significantly, which could change the prognostic significance of the parameters previously studied by us. That is why the purpose of this work was to identify psychophysiological predictors of success in learning throughout school from grades 1 to 11. Materials and methods The study was conducted in two schools in St. Petersburg - No. 225 and 235 in 2022. Students took part in the study with the written consent of their parents. The purpose of the study and the procedure for conducting it were explained to parents at the meeting. Sensorimotor tests were conducted in the morning. A total of 611 children aged 7 to 18 years participated in the study. The age and gender composition of the sample is shown in Figure 1. 
Fig. 1. Distribution of subjects by gender and age. Columns with horizontal stripes are girls, with vertical stripes are boys. Age – full years. The study was conducted on a device for psychophysiological testing UPFT-1/30-"PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGIST" (scientific, production and design firm "Medikom", Russia) with a block of psychomotor tests. The diagnostic complex included 7 tests. Examination of 1 child took about 15 minutes. 1. Simple visual-motor reaction (PMR): the child was asked to press the button as soon as possible if the green LED on the instrument panel lit up. 2. Simple auditory motor reaction (PSMR) - the subject was asked to press a button on the instrument panel as soon as possible if a sound sounded. 3. Complex visual-motor reaction (SPMR) – a two–color indicator - red or green LEDs - was used as a stimulus. The subject had to react to one of the signals, while ignoring the second. 4. Complex visual-motor reaction to a light combination (SPMR-SC) – the subject reacted by pressing buttons only to a certain combination of colored LEDs, ignoring other combinations.
5. Reaction to a moving object (RDO). A moving object is an arrow rotating around a circle. inside the circle there are 12 LEDs that light up randomly one by one. It is necessary to press the button so that the arrow stops as close as possible to the burning LED. 6. Dynamic sensorimotor test (DST) – light stimuli are presented with increasing speed if the reactions of the subject in the form of pressing a button are correct. The more correct reactions, the faster the stimuli are presented. 7. Tapping test (TT) – the subject is asked to tap the tapping pad as quickly as possible. The test was performed separately for the right and left hands. The parents of the students filled out Google questionnaires consisting of 23 questions. The questionnaires allowed us to take into account the peculiarities of children's lifestyle, for example, the time spent daily with gadgets, the independence of the child when performing lessons, etc., as well as the opinion of parents about the compliance of school grades with the abilities of the child. Indicators reflecting various aspects of the success of the tests were automatically saved in the device's card file and then uploaded to the SPSS-21 table for subsequent mathematical analysis along with the results of the parents' questionnaire. The results of sensorimotor tests and the results of parents' questionnaires were compared with the annual grades of children in all subjects. Results and their discussion First, a factor analysis was carried out in order to describe the possible relationships of the studied parameters. The result of the factor analysis is presented in Tables 1 and 2. From Table 1, it can be seen that factor analysis can be used for data processing, since the measure of the adequacy of the Kaiser-Mayr-Olkin sample is 0.716 (a CMOS value greater than 0.5 is sufficient for application), the percentage of the explained variance was 0.66 % | Table 1. KMO and Bartlett criterion | | A measure of the adequacy of the Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin sample (KMO). | 0,716,716 | | Bartlett 's sphericity criterion | Approximate Chi-square | 335,578 | | St. | 55 55 | |
Significance | 0,001 | Table 2. Rotated matrix of components | | | Table | Component | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | Tepping_SU_PR | 0,867 | -0,159 | 0,093 | | Tepping_SU_LR | 0,862 | -0,259 | 0,063 | | DST_BALL |
0,846 | 0,316 | -0,252 | | DST_CHPR | 0,844 | 0,371 | -0,222 | | Age | 0,807 | -0,053 | -0,290 | | SZMR_ER_3 | 0,076 | -0,747 | -0,126 | | SZMRSK_CHPR |
0,366 | 0,590 | -0,079 | | Marks at school (academic performance) match the abilities | -0,362 | 0,502 | 0,298 | | Uses gadgets for entertainment for less than an hour a day | -0,191 | -0,036 | 0,691 | | Paul | -0,010 | -0,098 | -0,659 | | Average score for the last year |
-0,058 | ,530 | 0,623 | | The method of factor allocation: the method of principal components. Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization. | | | a. The rotation converged in 6 iterations. | | | | | | | | | | | The first factor (35.3% of the explained variance) includes the relationship of age with the parameters of the tapping test and the parameter DST_BALL (dynamic sensorimotor test, number of points), DST_CHPR (dynamic sensorimotor test, number of correct reactions). The older the child, the higher the tapping test scores (the sum of the strokes) were with both the right and left hand, and the speed tasks aimed at decision-making are performed more efficiently. This result can be explained by the fact that the reaction rate in sensorimotor tests is associated with the degree of myelination of the brain's pathways, therefore, with age, as children complete myelination, this speed increases. The second factor (16.2% of the explained variance) connects the parents' idea that school grades correspond to their child's abilities with the parameters of a complex visual motor reaction (the number of errors in it) – the SPMR – ER - 3 indicator: the fewer errors, the more likely parents are to evaluate the child's grades as corresponding to his abilities. Children with high scores in complex sensorimotor tests are more likely to receive higher grades at school, parents are satisfied with their success and consider such grades deserved, corresponding to the abilities of the child. The third factor (14.7% of the explained variance) connects the objectively obtained estimates of the child with the time spent with the gadget and the sex of the child. Data analysis showed that girls study significantly better. This result may be due to the fact that the functional maturation of the brain of girls occurs faster than that of boys. It was also found that the less time a child spends with gadgets, the higher his grades. This is an important result that shows that the success of a child in learning depends not only on his innate abilities, but also on the conditions that parents create. It is parents who can regulate the amount of time a child spends with gadgets. The abuse of electronic entertainment automatically leads to a decrease in the child's motor activity, which in turn can reduce his performance and success in learning. Apparently, the optimal time that a student can spend with a gadget is less than an hour a day. Then a regression analysis was carried out, the results of which are presented in Table 3. Table 3 | Summary for the modelb | | Model |
R | R-square | Adjusted R-square | Standard estimation error | Durbin-Watson | | 1 | ,381a | ,146 | ,130 | 1,840 | 2,005 | | a. Predictors: (constant), Average score for the last year | | b. Dependent variable: SPMR_ER_3 | The value of the Durbin-Watson coefficient allows using the results of the obtained regression analysis. According to him, of all the parameters included in the step-by-step linear regression analysis, only one had a significant impact on the average score that the child receives. According to table 4, the significance level of such regression analysis was 0.004. Table 4. | Coefficients | | Model | Non-standardized coefficients |
Standardized coefficients | t | Significance | | B | Standard error | Beta | | 1 | (Constant) | 7,596 | 1,786 | | 4,253 | ,000 | | Average score for the last year (2021-2022) | -1,329 | ,438 | -,381 |
-3,032 | ,004 | | a. Dependent variable: SPMR_ER_3 | A number of researchers have shown that the results of sensorimotor tests can be associated with success in learning [2,4,11]. The novelty of our study lies in the fact that the links between the results of sensorimotor tests and success in learning were evaluated for all levels of schooling. We were able to show that both in elementary school and at all levels of schooling, it is the parameters of a complex sensorimotor reaction that predict the average annual grades of a child in the main subjects with maximum probability. Conclusions. Our research has shown that hardware tests evaluating the features of complex sensorimotor reactions are a convenient psychophysiological tool that allows you to predict the success of a child in school throughout the entire period of schooling from 1st to 11th grade. This information can be useful for the development of individual educational routes. Children with low scores in complex sensorimotor tests and low academic performance at school may need not only additional classes with educational material. Outdoor games, sports and music contribute to the development of those levels of integration that become the basis for a child's successful education. It is also important to take into account that uncontrolled use of gadgets by a child is a risk factor for learning difficulties.
References
1. Cai, Y., Hausdorff, J. M., Bean, J. F., Manor, B., You, T., & Leveille, S. G. (2021). Participation in cognitive activities is associated with foot reaction time and gait speed in older adults. Aging clinical and experimental research, 33(12), 3191–3198. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01583-3
2. Camerota, M., Willoughby, M. T., Magnus, B. E., & Blair, C. B. (2020). Leveraging item accuracy and reaction time to improve measurement of child executive function ability. Psychological assessment, 32(12), 1118–1132. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000953
3. Cardoso, F., Afonso, J., Roca, A., & Teoldo, I. (2021). The association between perceptual-cognitive processes and response time in decision making in young soccer players. Journal of sports sciences, 39(8), 926–935. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2020.1851901
4. Cerino, E. S., Stawski, R. S., Geldhof, G. J., & MacDonald, S. W. S. (2018). Associations Between Control Beliefs and Response Time Inconsistency in Older Adults Vary as a Function of Attentional Task Demands. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 75(9), 1819–1830. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gby124
5. Huang H. Y. (2020). Utilizing response times in cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing under the higher-order deterministic input, noisy ‘and’ gate model. The British journal of mathematical and statistical psychology, 73(1), 109–141. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/bmsp.12160
6. Janacsek, K., Shattuck, K. F., Tagarelli, K. M., Lum, J. A. G., Turkeltaub, P. E., & Ullman, M. T. (2020). Sequence learning in the human brain: A functional neuroanatomical meta-analysis of serial reaction time studies. NeuroImage, 207, 116387. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116387
7. Kim H.E., Avraham G., & Ivry R.B. (2021) The Psychology of Reaching: Action Selection, Movement Implementation, and Sensorimotor Learning. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 72, 21.1–21.35. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-051053
8. Magnus, B. E., Willoughby, M. T., Blair, C. B., & Kuhn, L. J. (2019). Integrating Item Accuracy and Reaction Time to Improve the Measurement of Inhibitory Control Abilities in Early Childhood. Assessment, 26(7), 1296–1306. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191117740953
9. Meiran, N., & Shahar, N. (2018). Working memory involvement in reaction time and its contribution to fluid intelligence: An examination of individual differences in reaction-time distributions. Intelligence, 69, 176–185. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.06.004
10. Lara A.H., Cunningham J.P., Churchland M.M. (2018) Different population dynamics in the supplementary motor area and motor cortex during reaching. Nat. Commun.,. V. 9. P. 27-54.
11. Prabu Kumar, A., Omprakash, A., Kuppusamy, M., K N, M., B W C, S., P V, V., & Ramaswamy, P. (2020). How does cognitive function measured by the reaction time and critical flicker fusion frequency correlate with the academic performance of students. BMC medical education, 20(1), 507. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02416-7 Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7734712/
First Peer Review
Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.
The paper "Search for psychophysiological predictors of success in school" is submitted for review. The subject of the study. The subject of the study is not highlighted by the author in the article. Special attention is paid to the definition of the main psychophysiological predictors of success in school. It can be noted that the selected subject was considered by the author of the study, and the goal was achieved. Research methodology. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the author conducted an empirical study. Special attention is paid to the identification of psychophysiological predictors of success in learning during schooling from grades 1 to 11. The author conducted a study in St. Petersburg schools on a large sample, described the criteria, procedure and results obtained. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the problem of determining psychophysiological predictors of success in school has practically not been considered by specialists. At the same time, this information is important for the development of individual educational routes for schoolchildren. The scientific novelty of the research is as follows. The author highlighted the following provisions: - the relationship between the results of sensorimotor tests and learning success were evaluated for all levels of schooling; - it was revealed that both in elementary school and at all levels of schooling, it is the parameters of a complex sensorimotor reaction that predict the average annual grades of a child in basic subjects with maximum probability; - demonstrated The potential of hardware tests are tools that evaluate the features of complex sensorimotor reactions. Style, structure, content. The style of presentation corresponds to publications of this level. The language of the work is scientific. The structure of the work is clearly traced, the author highlights the main semantic parts. In the introduction of the article, the relevance is indicated, a brief analysis of the studies that consider the object is carried out, and the purpose of the work is determined. The next section is devoted to the description of materials and methods of empirical research, a sample and respondents are presented. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of the device for psychophysiological testing UPFT-1/30-"PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGIST", which allows students to study the following indicators: simple visual-motor reaction, simple auditory-motor reaction, complex visual-motor reaction, complex visual-motor reaction to a light combination, reaction to a moving object, dynamic sensorimotor test, tapping test. Parents of schoolchildren also participated in the study by filling out a questionnaire. The author describes a system of indicators that reflect various aspects of the success of the tests. The third section contains a description of the results and their discussion. The author carried out a factor analysis, which allowed to describe the possible interrelationships of the studied parameters. The final section contains brief conclusions of the study. Bibliography. The bibliography of the article includes 11 domestic sources, a small part of which have been published in the last three years. The list contains mainly research articles and abstracts. The sources are not designed uniformly. Appeal to opponents. Recommendations: 1) to make a deeper theoretical analysis of the problem of domestic and foreign sources, highlighting a section with a theoretical and methodological analysis of the problem; 2) to describe in more detail the prospects of this study, defining the main directions for further study; 3) to correctly arrange bibliographic sources, bring them to uniformity in accordance with the requirements. Conclusions. The problems of the article are of undoubted relevance, theoretical and practical value, and will be of interest to specialists who consider psychological predictors of success in school. The article can be recommended for publication taking into account the highlighted recommendations.
Second Peer Review
Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.
The relevance of the study of psychophysiological predictors of success in school is beyond doubt. Despite the fact that various biologizing concepts have previously been criticized in Russian pedagogy, currently it is pedagogical psychophysiology that makes it possible to understand the reasons for the success/failure of school education. In any case, the causes (or predictors, that is, precursors) of school failure are an objective reflection of the problems of children's learning ability. This is especially noticeable in primary school, when the age-related psychophysiological features of children's development depend to a certain extent on the timeliness of myelination of nerve fibers, which ensures the course of many psychophysiological processes. Especially those processes that are associated with the speed of nerve impulses. The authors write that "previously, we used the assessment of various parameters of simple and complex sensorimotor reactions to predict the success of a child's education in elementary school." They had previously established "the high prognostic significance of the parameters of a complex visual-motor reaction to assume what the average annual assessment a child will have at the end of the year." It is also noted that, starting from the 4th grade, the educational motivation of schoolchildren changes significantly, which could change the prognostic significance of previously studied parameters. That is why the purpose of this work was to identify psychophysiological predictors of success in learning throughout the entire period of schooling from grades 1 to 11. In this regard, we can say that the stated approach and the results obtained earlier by the authors are quite consistent with theoretical ideas about the dynamics of psychophysiological processes at school age. Based on methodological considerations about the relationship between the success of learning with various speed indicators of psychophysiological reactions, the authors used a fairly large block of methods to determine the speed parameters of psychophysiological response to simple and complex visual-auditory stimuli in the subjects (611 children). In accordance with the logic of the study, statistical measurements were performed, which allowed us to obtain the corresponding correlations. The style of presentation of the material is scientific and research. It is clear that the editors are familiar with this topic and are familiar with the literature. But according to the literature, it can be said that it is the pedagogical aspects of school psychophysiology that are not sufficiently reflected in the text. The structure of the text generally meets the requirements that apply to articles. Only the methodology and the subject of the study are not shown, but they are clear in the text. As a scientific novelty, the authors point out that "the links between the results of sensorimotor tests and learning success were evaluated for all levels of schooling." The authors believe that they "managed to show that both in elementary school and at all levels of schooling, it is the parameters of a complex sensorimotor reaction that predict the average annual grades of a child in basic subjects with maximum probability." It can be seen from the content of the work that the main attention was paid to identifying the relationship between the success of learning and the speed parameters of psychophysiological reactions of schoolchildren. The authors used a statistical apparatus that made it possible to describe the possible interrelationships of the studied parameters on the basis of factor analysis. So, from the table. 2 it can be seen that the first factor (35.3% of the explained variance) includes the relationship of age with the parameters of the tapping test and the parameter DST_BALL (dynamic sensorimotor test, number of points), DST_CHPR (dynamic sensorimotor test, number of correct reactions). It was found that the older the child, the higher the tapping test scores (the sum of strokes) were with both the right and left hands, and high-speed tasks aimed at decision-making were performed more effectively. The authors explain this result by the fact that the reaction rate in sensorimotor tests is associated with the degree of myelination of the brain's pathways, therefore, with age, as children complete myelination, this rate increases. We can agree with this interpretation. Information is provided on the second and third factors, which also make it possible to understand the significance of the relevant predictors for learning success. For example, interesting data has been obtained that the results obtained may be related to the fact that the functional maturation of the brain of girls occurs faster than that of boys. This is quite possible, since the psychophysiological characteristics of speed parameters depend on the gender and age characteristics of development, and not only on age. It was also found that the less time a child spends with gadgets, the higher his grades. This is an important result that shows that a child's success in learning depends not only on his innate abilities, but also on the conditions that parents create. It is the parents who can regulate the amount of time a child spends with gadgets. The abuse of electronic entertainment automatically leads to a decrease in the child's motor activity, which in turn can reduce his performance and success in learning. Apparently, according to the authors, the optimal time that a student should spend with a gadget should be less than one hour a day. As the main conclusion, it is shown that hardware tests evaluating the features of complex sensorimotor reactions are a convenient psychophysiological tool that allows predicting a child's academic success throughout the entire period of schooling from 1st to 11th grade. This information can be useful for the development of individual educational routes. It can be added that this kind of research can be continued in the direction of specifying the criteria for the psychophysiological development of schoolchildren (especially in the lower grades) in order to take them into account in the educational and pedagogical process. The bibliographic list mainly includes sources on the research topic. Despite the fact that there are some comments on the article, but they are not fundamental, it can be recommended for publication in a scientific journal.
|
© 1998 – 2024 Nota Bene. Publishing Technologies. NB-Media Ltd.
