Connections between mathematics and reading development: Numerical cognition mediates relations between foundational competencies and later academic outcomes. - PsycNET

Spencer, M., Fuchs, L. S., Geary, D. C., & Fuchs, D. (2022). Connections between mathematics and reading development: Numerical cognition mediates relations between foundational competencies and later academic outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(2), 273–288. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000670
We examined longitudinal relations between 1st-grade cognitive predictors (early nonverbal reasoning, processing speed, listening comprehension, working memory, calculation skill, word-problem solving, word-reading fluency, attentive behavior, and numerical cognition) and 2nd-grade academic outcomes (calculations, word-problem solving, and word reading) in 370 children (Mage = 6.55 years, SDage = 0.33 years at the start of the study) who were identified as at-risk or not-at-risk for mathematics disability. Path analysis mediation models revealed that numerical cognition, assessed at an intermediary timepoint, mediated the effects of processing speed, working memory, calculation skill, word-problem solving, and attentive behavior on all 3 outcomes. Findings indicate that multiple early domain-general cognitive abilities are related to later mathematics and reading outcomes and that numerical cognition processes, which may track ease of forming symbol-concept associations, predict later performance across both academic domains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Impact Statement
Educational Impact and Implications Statement—Given the frequent co-occurrence of difficulties in learning mathematics and reading, identifying the processes and skills that support success in both domains is important. The study showed that several domain-general abilities, such as working memory and attentive behavior, contributed to earlier and later calculation skill, word-problem solving, and word-reading fluency. More critically, the study showed that one bridge between the codevelopment of reading and mathematics achievement is the fluency of processing basic numerical relationships. The numerical measure in turn likely indexes the ease with which students form symbol-concept associations, and this cognitive system might be contributing to the co-occurrence of difficulties in mathematics and reading. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)


 Connections between mathematics and reading development: Numerical cognition mediates relations between foundational competencies and later academic outcomes. - PsycNET 
https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fedu0000670

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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Working memory development: A 50-year assessment of research and underlying theories - ScienceDirect

 Working memory development: A 50-year assessment of research and underlying theories - ScienceDirect 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027722000634

Working memory development: A 50-year assessment of research and underlying theories
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NelsonCowan
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105075
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Abstract
The author has thought about working memory, not always by that name, since 1969 and has conducted research on its infant and child development since the same year that the seminal work of Baddeley and Hitch (1974) was published. The present article assesses how the field of working memory development has been influenced since those years by major theoretical perspectives: empiricism (along with behaviorism), nativism (along with modularity), cognitivism (along with constructivism), and dynamic systems theory. The field has not fully discussed the point that these theoretical perspectives have helped to shape different kinds of proposed working memory systems, which in turn have deeply influenced what is researched and how it is researched. Here I discuss that mapping of theoretical viewpoints onto assumptions about working memory and trace the influence of this mapping on the field of working memory development. I illustrate where these influences have led in my own developmental research program over the years.

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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Cognitive Ability and Job Performance: Meta-analytic Evidence for the Validity of Narrow Cognitive Abilities | SpringerLink

 Cognitive Ability and Job Performance: Meta-analytic Evidence for the Validity of Narrow Cognitive Abilities | SpringerLink 
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10869-022-09796-1

Cognitive Ability and Job Performance: Meta-analytic Evidence for the Validity of Narrow Cognitive Abilities

• Christopher D. Nye, Jingjing Ma & Serena Wee 

Journal of Business and Psychology (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract
Cognitive ability is one of the best predictors of performance on the job and past research has seemingly converged on the idea that narrow cognitive abilities do not add incremental validity over general mental ability (GMA) for predicting job performance. In the present study, we propose that the reason for the lack of incremental validity in previous research is that the narrow cognitive abilities that have been assessed most frequently are also the abilities that are most highly correlated with GMA. Therefore, we expect that examining a broader range of narrow cognitive abilities that are less highly correlated with GMA will demonstrate incremental validity for narrow abilities. To examine this prediction, we conducted an updated meta-analysis of the relationship between cognitive ability and a multidimensional conceptualization of job performance (task performance, training performance, organizational citizenship behavior, counterproductive work behavior, withdrawal). Using several different methods of analyzing the data, results indicated that the narrow cognitive abilities that are the least highly correlated with GMA added substantial incremental validity for predicting task performance, training performance, and organizational citizenship behavior. These results have important implications for the assessment of cognitive ability and the employee selection process.

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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Graphs do not lead people to infer causation from correlation. - PsycNET

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-36700-001

Fansher, M., Adkins, T. J., & Shah, P. (2022). Graphs do not lead people to infer causation from correlation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000393

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Abstract
Media articles often communicate the latest scientific findings, and readers must evaluate the evidence and consider its potential implications. Prior work has found that the inclusion of graphs makes messages about scientific data more persuasive (Tal & Wansink, 2016). One explanation for this finding is that such visualizations evoke the notion of "science"; however, results are mixed. In the current investigation we extend this work by examining whether graphs lead people to erroneously infer causation from correlational data. In two experiments we gave participants realistic online news articles in which they were asked to evaluate the research and apply the work's findings to a real-life hypothetical scenario. Participants were assigned to read the text of the article alone or with an accompanying line or bar graph. We found no evidence that the presence of graphs affected participants' evaluations of correlational data as causal. Given that these findings were unexpected, we attempted to directly replicate a well-cited article making the claim that graphs are persuasive (Tal & Wansink, 2016), but we were unsuccessful. Overall, our results suggest that the mere presence of graphs does not necessarily increase the likelihood that one infers incorrect causal claims. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

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Kevin S. McGrew,  PhD
Educational Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
www.themindhub.com
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