Poster #10 - Understanding Cognitive Flexibility and Reading Comprehension Among Elementary Students

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Attention, Learning, Memory

Integrative Statement

Promoting successful reading comprehension is important, including documenting factors that support reading comprehension. Reading comprehension involves constructing meaning from text by using decoding and linguistic comprehension skills. Oral language skills such as narrative comprehension and receptive vocabulary also are important. Coordinating these processes requires cognitive flexibility—the ability to switch fluidly between activities—which is one component of executive functioning. Previous research suggests that flexibility increases across childhood and evinces wide individual variation (Bock, Gallaway, & Hund, 2015; Cantin et al., 2016; Cartwright, Marshall, Dandy, & Isaac, 2010). Developmental gains have been found for both general flexibility—domain-general aspects of shifting commonly included as one aspect of executive functioning (Bock et al., 2015)—and reading-specific flexibility—domain-specific aspects of coordination relevant for reading (Cartwright et al., 2010; Diaz et al., 2009; Gnaedinger, Hund, & Hesson-McInnis, 2016). We know that reading-specific flexibility is related to reading comprehension (Cartwright, 2007; Cartwright et al., 2010; Cartwright Isaac, & Dandy, 2006; Colé, Duncan, & Blaye, 2014; Diaz et al., 2009; Gnaedinger et al., 2016). In fact, training elementary students to note both phonemic and semantic properties via simultaneous sorting of words in a matrix resulted in gains in reading comprehension, even after controlling for factors such as age and general flexibility (Cartwright, 2002). Recently, a similar training intervention was tested with struggling readers, demonstrating impressive gains in reading comprehension across one academic year (Cartwright et al., 2016). To date, the effectiveness of simultaneous and sequential aspects of cognitive flexibility have not been tested. As such, the goal of this project was to understand the mechanisms by which cognitive flexibility supports reading comprehension during the elementary years by testing four variants of cognitive flexibility training—simultaneous or sequential sorting of words or object pictures—over and above the known effects of age, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and verbal fluency. Eighty-three second through fifth grade students completed two MAZE reading comprehension passages with card sorting in between, and measures of oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and verbal fluency (D-KEFS). Parents provided demographic details. Card sorting accuracy differed significantly depending on card type and sorting procedure such that sorting was more accurate when sorting objects in either manner (sequential: M = .98, SE = .04 and simultaneous: M = .96, SE = .05) and when sorting words sequentially (M = .94, SE = .04) than when sorting words simultaneously (M = .59, SE = .04). Contrary to expectations, card sorting accuracy did not differ based on age and was not related to reading comprehension. As expected, oral reading fluency (r [80] = .79), verbal fluency (r = .42), and vocabulary (r = .19) were related to reading comprehension, even after controlling for growth due to age. These findings confirm strong effects of oral reading fluency and verbal fluency on reading comprehension. They also suggest that simultaneous sorting of words is challenging and may be related to growth in reading comprehension when long-term training is provided.

Author

• Alycia Hund, Illinois State University
  Presenting Author