Year: 2020
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The paper presents the results of a study on inhibitory control, voluntary response, and working memory in primary school children. The survey involved 52 primary school children at the age of 7–8 years with learning disabilities (diagnosis F80-89 according to ICD-10) and 50 primary school children with no disabilities. The authors used several research methods, i.e. the ReBOS technique, reflex metric measurements (by E. G. Vergunov), “Delayed gratification test” (by W. Mischel), as well as a software package for determining the characteristics of visual-spatial memory systems, developed by O. M. Razumnikova and M.A. Savinykh (inventor’s certificate No. 20166617675). The authors assessed the parameters of a simple and complex sensorimotor reaction and strategies of memorization and reproduction in primary school students with mental retardation, their voluntary and volitional response, and their working memory capacity. It was established that in a simple sensorimotor reaction the average time of response decreased, while in a complex sensorimotor reaction the average reaction response time increased, which may confirm the subjects’ diagnosis. The children did not cope with the task, did not listen to all the instructions, and did not show a volitional response. This may be due to myelination of the corpus callosum which binds the frontal lobes, which is at a developmental stage. This process determines the specifics of arbitrary regulation. In children with learning disabilities, a lower capacity of working memory was revealed, which indicates a reduced reproduction, and a weakening of inhibition processes. Children with normal development showed a decrease in the average response time to the stimulus in a complex sensorimotor reaction. This may indicate that normal development of the frontal lobes and corpus callosum allows children to find common patterns in predicting the stimuli. The results of studying working memory in these children showed a strategy for learning. This is confirmed by the outcomes of the volitional response study: most children postponed “gratification” and apply volitional regulation for additional stimulation.
Source: Comprehensive Child Studies
Authors: Irina K. Vasileva, Elvira B. Dunaevskaya
Institution: Herzen University
Language: English
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3096579772