Academic achievement map: a clear cognitive route and a promising motor path

This study investigates how executive functions, motor coordination, and oral discourse are related to academic performance in children from public schools in Rio de Janeiro.

This longitudinal study assessed 75 children at the beginning (T1) and at the end (T2) of a school semester. Working memory was measured by the Digit Span test, eye-hand coordination by the Touch Test Disc (TTD), and oral discourse by non-semantic graph metrics (SpeechGraphs). Academic performance was assessed in Portuguese and Mathematics.

Digit Span and TTD showed the strongest correlations with academic performance at T2, while graph metrics obtained from oral discourse were not significant predictors. Digit Span correlated positively with Portuguese (r = 0.505; p < 0.001) and Mathematics (r = 0.388; p = 0.002), while TTD correlated negatively with Portuguese (r = -0.453; p < 0.001) and Mathematics (r = -0.398; p = 0.001), i.e. better motor performance was associated with higher grades. Multiple regression analyses showed that Digit Span predicted Portuguese (β = 0.492; p < 0.001, 24.2% of variance). For Mathematics, both age (β = -0.501; p < 0.001) and Digit Span performance (β = 0.413; p = 0.002) were significant predictors.

Working memory is a predictor of academic performance in both Portuguese and Mathematics, and eye-hand coordination also shows significant correlations with school grades, suggesting a relevant relationship between motor skills and learning. These findings highlight the importance of taking an integrated approach to cognitive and motor capacities in the educational context.