Mental attention in gifted and nongifted children

Abstract

The relationship between the construct of mental attention and "giftedness" is not well established. Gifted individuals could make effective use of their executive functions and this could be related to their mental attentional capacity. The dialectic constructivist model developed by Pascual-Leone introduced the concept of mental attention or "effort", relating it to mental capacity. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the measurement of mental capacity (M-measurement) is differential for a group of children with high IQs. 110 students between 4 and 18 years old participated in this study. Some were Gifted (n=70) and others Non-Gifted (n=40). Wechsler-R Scale and the Figural IntersectionTest were administered to all participants. An interesting pattern was found in the younger groups. The gifted scored higher than the non-gifted in the Figural Intersection Test and much higher than their theoretical M. The non-gifted scored quite close to their theoretical M (based on age). In the oldest group, the gifted again achieved higher scores, but now they scored at the theoretical level, and the non-gifted underperformed.

Tool for Assessing Intellectual Quotient Among Children

“…The relationship between the construct of mental focus and 'giftness' is not well known. Gifted people may make good use of their executive functions, and this could be due to their capacity for mental focus [4]. The relationship between the intelligence quotient (IQ) and cognitive control mechanisms has been thoroughly developed.…”

Estudio de la Aplicación de Programas de Alto Rendimiento para alumnos con altas Capacidades

“…Para identificar las altas capacidades, estudiamos los investigadores referentes a nivel internacional que desde hace tiempo consideran necesario la aplicación de test psicométrico de inteligencia con resultados de C.I, igual o superior a 130 (Feldman, 1982;Lubart, 2006;Calero et al, 2007;Montero et al, 2005;Navarro et al 2006;Peralta y Repáraz, 2002;Ramiro et al, 2010). Además, se van incorporando modelos holísticos que incluyen variables personales cognitivas, no cognitivas y contextuales en alumnos de Primaria (Prieto et al, 2006;Ramírez, Álvarez, Jiménez y Artiles, 2004;Sánchez et al, 2007a;Sánchez et al, 2007b) y en secundaria (e.g., Ferrándiz et al, 2010) y se valoran las Inteligencias Múltiples mediante las dimensiones valoradas en la escuela: un componente académico que engloba las inteligencias lingüística, lógico-matemática, naturalista y viso-espacial; y un componente no académico que comprende las inteligencias corporal, musical y social (Hernández-Torrano, Ferrándiz, Ferrando, Prieto y Fernandez, 2014).…”

“…Previamente, un Comité ético de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid aprobó el estudio y los padres de los alumnos dieron su permiso conformado para la aplicación de las pruebas y la realización de los programas. Los alumnos seleccionados tenían un cociente intelectual igual o superior a 130 puntos en la escala de inteligencia WISC'R para niños de Wechsler, (1974;TEA, 1993) que se le aplicó de forma individual, con el objeto de cumplir los estándares de identificación de alumnos con altas capacidades a nivel internacional de enfoque psicométrico, que es el más utilizado a pesar de sus limitaciones (Navarro, Ramiro, López, Aguilar, Acosta & Montero 2006;Renzulli, 1998;Ritchhart, 2001). La fiabilidad de la escala de Wechsler presenta un α= 0.89 y es uno de los instrumentos que mas se utiliza para la evaluación de la inteligencia.…”

Cognitive and Emotional Inhibition Processes of Gifted Children: Word-color and Emotional Stroop Effects

“…2003;Michel & Anderson 2009). 억제처리 능력 외에 도, 일반적인 인지양식 및 인지발달을 포함하여 주의-집중력(집행기능의 또 다른 하위 기능인 동시에 억제처리와 상당한 관련이 있는 요인)에서 영재아동들이 일반 아동들에 비하여 상당 히 우수하다는 연구들도 다수 있다 (나귀옥, 1995;이종섭 & 유미현, 2013;Aguilar, Acosta, & Montero, 2006;Navarro, Ramiro, Lopez, Leikin, Paz-Baruch, & Leikin, 2014;Schwanenflugel, Stevens, & Carr, 1997).…”