El tema de las condiciones óptimas para el desarrollo verbal del niño preescolar menor aún sigue abierto en psicología, y surge la pregunta acerca de la naturaleza de dichas condiciones. Desde la teoría de la actividad se plantea la posibilidad de análisis de fenómenos del desarrollo no como procesos aislados, sino como elementos de la actividad que predomina en el desarrollo del niño en una u otra etapa. El objetivo de este estudio fue establecer una relación entre la adquisición de las acciones objetales y la producción verbal en niños preescolares menores.En el estudio se valoraron los niveles de adquisición de la acción objetal, comunicación verbal en el juego y la forma de interacción entre niño y adultos que predomina en familia. Para las interacciones con los niños se utilizó el Protocolo para Evaluación del desarrollo para niños preescolares menores (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2014), mientras que con los cuidadores se aplicó una entrevista para precisar el tipo de acciones y orientaciones predominantes en familia. Se identificó una relación entre ambos fenómenos estudiados y una correlación significativa entre el nivel de adquisición de las acciones con objetos, expresiones verbales y orientación parental. Se precisaron las etapas de adquisición de acciones con objetos y el paso al inicio de la adquisición de la función simbólica con el rol específico de uso de juguetes animados. Se discute la utilidad del protocolo para diagnóstico e interacción con niños preescolares, así como para la formulación de programas de intervención y desarrollo en esta edad.

Among neurodevelopmental disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the main cause of school failure in children. Notably, visuospatial dysfunction has also been emphasized as a leading cause of low cognitive performance in children with ADHD. Consequently, the present study aimed to identify ADHD-related changes in electroencephalography (EEG) characteristics, associated with visual object processing in school-aged children. We performed Multichannel EEG recordings in 16-year-old children undergoing Navon’s visual object processing paradigm. We mapped global coherence during the processing of local and global visual stimuli that were consistent, inconsistent, or neutral. We found that Children with ADHD showed significant differences in global weighted coherence during the processing of local and global inconsistent visual stimuli and longer response times in comparison to the control group. Delta and theta EEG bands highlighted important features for classification in both groups. Thus, we advocate EEG coherence and low-frequency EEG spectral power as prospective markers of visual processing deficit in ADHD. Our results have implications for the development of diagnostic interventions in ADHD and provide a deeper understanding of the factors leading to low performance in school-aged children.

ObjectiveThe purpose of our study was to demonstrate the benefits of role play based on a Historical–Cultural perspective with the implementation of symbolic elements generated by the development of drawing of preschool children from suburban origin in a group of normal Mexican preschool children. We predict that the quality of the drawings will be improved after the preschoolers participate in such a role play program.MethodsA pre-experimental study was carried out, with pre-test and post-test assessments. The drawings were assessed with quantitative (frequencies of the quality of the parameters) and qualitative (characteristics of the children's drawings) methods. The role play program was based on Elkonin's method, activity theory, and P. Ya Galperin's formation by stages of mental actions. The program encouraged the use of graphic signs and symbols, with the intention of representing situations, actions, objects, and/or contents. Twenty-six preschool children participated in our study.ResultsTo know the effect of the role play program with symbolic elements on the drawing of preschool children, we performed a quantitative and qualitative analysis, a Wilcoxon test contrast between the initial and final assessment. Both analyses showed a significant increase in the scores in all the tasks with a medium–large effect size, being the largest “Pictograms” and “Drawing of the route”; and in the analysis of the qualitative parameters, specifically in “Maintains the objective,” a significant increase was found in all the tasks.DiscussionRole play, being the main activity in preschool age, develops all aspects of the child's psychic life. The importance of role play in a preschool child makes it possible to work in the zone of proximal development with the regulatory function of language, with the planning, execution, and control of playful activity and, most importantly, with the use of various materials and perceptual-graphics tools. These findings showed an improvement in the development and complexity of the symbolic function in the drawings.ConclusionRole play, as a work methodology in preschool age, leads to the use of new meaning systems that prepare the child to carry out present and future complex symbolic actions.

El propósito del trabajo fue analizar, desde la neuropsicología Histórico-Cultural, los tipos de errores en la escritura en adolescentes de educación media básica con alto rendimiento académico (ARA) y bajo rendimiento académico (BRA). Con base en el análisis sindrómico propuesto por Luria, se identificó a los mecanismos de regulación y control y de análisis y síntesis espacial global, como mecanismos subyacentes a los tipos de errores presentados por los participantes. Método. Se aplicó un diseño transversal descriptivo. La muestra incluyó 8 adolescentes con ARA y 8 con BRA, de cada uno de los tres grados del nivel de educación secundaria, siendo una muestra total de 48 adolescentes mexicanos. Se aplicaron tareas para evaluar a los mecanismos neuropsicológicos y a la escritura. Los resultados mostraron los tipos de errores de escritura característicos a los mecanismos identificados como deficientes en su nivel funcional, los errores fueron más significativos en el grupo de BRA. Se resaltan la necesidad de corregir las dificultades en la escritura no desde la escritura misma, sino contemplar actividades que favorezcan el desarrollo funcional de los mecanismos deficientes, incluso desde el nivel de la educación básica inicial.

ObjectiveThe aim of the present work was to investigate the use of verbal language applied to the solution of inverse function problems in comparison to the algebraic method in students of humanities.MethodsWe consider only algebraic functions in our study. Three precalculus problems were chosen and two solution methods used. A total of 120 students participated in this study, half of them used the verbal method and the other half the algebraic method.ResultsTo determine if there was a relationship between the utilized method and the effectiveness of the solution, that is the number of exercises solved correctly related to the type of method used, we used Pearson’s chi-square test. We found a significant association between the type of method and the success of the solution χ2 (1) = 10.84, p < 0.001. Regarding the effect size, we found that the probability to get a correct solution was 3.75 times higher when solved with the verbal method in comparison to the algebraic method.DiscussionWe suggest that such efficacy in solving inverse function problems was due to the self-regulation of participant’s language. In this sense, it is necessary to investigate the effects of such self-regulation by means of our experimental paradigm in a future study.ConclusionThe results of the present study showed that verbal language applied to the solution of inverse function problems is highly effective when compared to the algebraic method.