Neuropsychological Differences Among Students With Learning Difficulties, Without Learning Difficulties, and With High Capacity

Abstract

Progress in applied neuroscience and neuropsychology in the educational context has revealed efficient methodologies for preventing academic failure and developing the potential of students. The aim of this work is to adopt a neuropsychological perspective to study learning-related differences between students with learning difficulties (LD), without LD, and with high capacity. We evaluated visual, auditory, motor, touch, writing, language, and memory functionality in 156 students between 5 and 8years of age. The results of the 3x4 factorial analysis (p<.01) and the effect size ((2)(p)) indicate a medium-large interaction effect between the three groups of subjects and the school year (most of the students with LD have lower scores in the neuropsychological areas evaluated than students with high abilities). These findings also hint at novel research areas for preventing academic failure and developing student capacities from a neuropsychological perspective based on basic cognitive functions.