Perception of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Chilean Public Schools

Valdebenito-Villalobos, Jacqueline; Parra-Rizo, María Antonia; Chávez-Castillo, Yasna; Díaz-Vargas, Caterin; Sanzana Vallejos, Gloria; Gutiérrez Echavarría, Aurora; Tapia Figueroa, Andrea; Godoy Montecinos, Xeny; Zapata-Lamana, Rafael; Cigarroa, Igor

doi:10.3390/bs12100356

Open AccessArticle

Perception of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Chilean Public Schools

by

Jacqueline Valdebenito-Villalobos

^1,†,

María Antonia Parra-Rizo

^2,3,†

,

Yasna Chávez-Castillo

^4,5,†

,

Caterin Díaz-Vargas

¹

,

Gloria Sanzana Vallejos

⁶,

Aurora Gutiérrez Echavarría

¹,

Andrea Tapia Figueroa

¹,

Xeny Godoy Montecinos

¹,

Rafael Zapata-Lamana

¹ and

Igor Cigarroa

^7,*

¹

Escuela de Educación, Universidad de Concepción, Los Ángeles 4440000, Chile

²

Faculty of Health Sciences, Valencian International University(VIU), 46002 Valencia, Spain

³

Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Social and Health Sciences, Campus of Elche, Miguel Hernández University (UMH), 03202 Elche, Spain

⁴

Grupo Interdisciplinario en Educación GIIE, Escuela de Educación, Universidad de Concepción, Los Ángeles 4440000, Chile

⁵

Facultad Ciencias Sociales, Estudiante de Doctorado en Psicología, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile

⁶

Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile

⁷

Escuela de Kinesiología, Facultad de Salud, Universidad Santo Tomás, Los Ángeles 4440000, Chile

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors have contributed equally to this work.

Behav. Sci. 2022, 12(10), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100356

Submission received: 15 August 2022 / Revised: 18 September 2022 / Accepted: 21 September 2022 / Published: 24 September 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Methodologies in the Educational Context: Psychological and Behavioral Aspects)

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Abstract

Understanding the perception that students have about their own cognitive processes is a key aspect that allows for a deeper assimilation of the different factors that affect school performance. However, there is limited evidence explaining the link between students’ perception of their own cognitive functions and their academic performance. The objective of this study was to analyze the association between perception of cognitive functions, such as memory, processing speed, attention, execution of complex tasks and nervousness, and academic performance in Chilean schoolchildren from the province of Biobio. A cross-sectional analytic design was conducted. The sample consisted of 590 elementary school students (12 ± 1.3 years old; 48.3% female) from Chilean public schools. The academic performance was measured by means of the accumulated final grades in the language, mathematics, physical education and health subjects, and the grade point average (GPA) of each student. Moreover, a survey to measure the cognitive functions of the participants was applied. The results show that 20.3% of the students perceived themselves as very nervous and 16.8% felt distracted. Differences in marks were observed in all the measured subjects, as well as in GPAs, depending on the perception of cognitive functions. Thus, the students with low to moderate perceptions of their cognitive functions received lower marks than those who reported a high perception. These results were consistent after a multivariate analysis adjusted for a socio-educational variables model. In conclusion, one in five public school students in the Biobío Region of Chile expressed a low perception of their cognitive functions, which is consistent with their weaker school performance. Therefore, it is believed that integrating curricular activity and cognitive work could potentially boost the perception of said functions, and thus reduce the risk of poor academic performance.

Keywords: cognitive processes; academic performance; self-perception; cross-sectional design; Chile

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MDPI and ACS Style

Valdebenito-Villalobos, J.; Parra-Rizo, M.A.; Chávez-Castillo, Y.; Díaz-Vargas, C.; Sanzana Vallejos, G.; Gutiérrez Echavarría, A.; Tapia Figueroa, A.; Godoy Montecinos, X.; Zapata-Lamana, R.; Cigarroa, I. Perception of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Chilean Public Schools. Behav. Sci. 2022, 12, 356. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100356

AMA Style

Valdebenito-Villalobos J, Parra-Rizo MA, Chávez-Castillo Y, Díaz-Vargas C, Sanzana Vallejos G, Gutiérrez Echavarría A, Tapia Figueroa A, Godoy Montecinos X, Zapata-Lamana R, Cigarroa I. Perception of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Chilean Public Schools. Behavioral Sciences. 2022; 12(10):356. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100356

Chicago/Turabian Style

Valdebenito-Villalobos, Jacqueline, María Antonia Parra-Rizo, Yasna Chávez-Castillo, Caterin Díaz-Vargas, Gloria Sanzana Vallejos, Aurora Gutiérrez Echavarría, Andrea Tapia Figueroa, Xeny Godoy Montecinos, Rafael Zapata-Lamana, and Igor Cigarroa. 2022. "Perception of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Chilean Public Schools" Behavioral Sciences 12, no. 10: 356. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100356

APA Style

Valdebenito-Villalobos, J., Parra-Rizo, M. A., Chávez-Castillo, Y., Díaz-Vargas, C., Sanzana Vallejos, G., Gutiérrez Echavarría, A., Tapia Figueroa, A., Godoy Montecinos, X., Zapata-Lamana, R., & Cigarroa, I. (2022). Perception of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Chilean Public Schools. Behavioral Sciences, 12(10), 356. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100356

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Perception of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Chilean Public Schools

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