Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Yasouj University
Abstract
This study aimed to determine the effect of educational packages based on executive functions on students' working memory. This was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study with a control group. In this study, the statistical population was all fifth-grade male students of Shahreza city located in Iran in the academic year 2020-2021. A boys' primary school and 40 students were selected using the available sampling method randomly. Experiments and controls were replaced in two groups of 20 people. The experimental group underwent 10 sessions of training based on executive functions; The control group did not receive any intervention. The data collection process was performed in the pre-test and post-test stages with Daniman and Carpenter's (1980) working memory scale for all participants in two groups. The collected data were analyzed by the ANCOVA method. ANCOVA results showed that performance-based education increased the working memory of students in the experimental group compared to the control group in the post-test (P<0.05). According to the results, the educational package based on executive functions can be used to increase the working memory of students in schools and educational centers.
Keywords
Ay, F., Polat, S., & Kashimi, T. (2020). Relationship between the Problem-solving skills and empathy skills of operating room nurses. Journal of Nursing Research, 28(2), 1-10.
Bang, M., & Sim, S. (2018). Relationship among empathy ability, creativity confluence competency and problem-solving ability in nursing students. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 9(8).
Bartlett, J., Kotrlik, J., & Higgins, C. (2001). Organizational research: Determining appropriation sample size in survey research. Information technology, learning, and performance Journal, 1 (19), 43- 50.
Bray, K. O., Anderson, V., Pantelis, C., Pozzi, E., Schwartz, O. S., Vijayakumar, N., & Whittle, S. (2021). Associations between cognitive and affective empathy and internalizing symptoms in late childhood. Journal of Affective Disorders, 290, 245-253.
Chen, J., Zou, Y., Sun, Y. H., & Cate, C. (2020). On problem solving and the evolution of cognitive abilities by mate choice: a reply to Camacho-Alpízar et al. (2020). Animal Behaviour, 165, e5-e7.
Dean, S., Razavy, S., Walsh, S., Zaslawski, C., Levett-Jones, T., & Cant, R. (2021). Building empathy awareness in undergraduate traditional Chinese Medicine students via an undercover ‘mystery shopper’ experience. Advances in Integrative Medicine.
DeCaro, M. S., & Beilock, S. L. (2010). The benefits and perils of attentional control. Effortless attention. A new perspective in the cognitive science of attention and action, 51-73.
DeCaro, M. S., Van Stockum, C. A., Jr., & Wieth, M. B. (2016). When higher working memory capacity hinders insight. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(1), 39–49.
DeCaro, M. S. (2014). Enclothed cognition and controlled attention during insight problem-solving. The Journal of Problem Solving, 7(1), 8.
Derryberry, D., & Reed, M. A. (2002). Anxiety-related attentional biases and their regulation by attentional control. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111(2), 225– 236.
Díaz, M., Córdova, F., Cañete, L., Palominos, F., Cifuentes, F., & Rivas, G. (2015). Inter-channel Correlation in the EEG Activity During a Cognitive Problem-Solving Task with an Increasing Difficulty Questions Progression. Procedia Computer Science, 55, 1420-1425.
Ewin, N., Chugh, R., Muurlink, O., Jarvis, J., & Luck, J. (2021). Empathy of project management students and why it matters. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 503–510.
Fadli, A. (2020). The effect of local wisdom-based Elsie learning model on the problem solving and communication skills of pre-service Islamic teachers. International Journal of Instruction, 13(1), 731-746.
Finn, P. R., Mazas, C. A., Justus, A. N., & Steinmetz, J. (2020). Early ‐onset alcoholism with conduct disorder: go/no go learning deficits, working memory capacity, and personality. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 26 (2), 186 -206.
Gilhooly, K., & Webb, M. E. (2018). Working memory in insight problem solving. Insight, 105-119.
Godfrey, D. A., Kehoe, C. M., Bastardas-Albero, A., & Babcock, J. C. (2020). Empathy mediates the relations between working memory and perpetration of intimate partner violence and aggression. Behavioral Sciences, 10(3), 63.
Goodhew, S. C., & Edwards, M. (2021). Attentional control both helps and harms empathy. Cognition, 206, 104505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104505
Heppner, P. P., & Petersen, C. H. (1982). The development and implications of a personal problem-solving inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 29(1), 66–75.
Hwang, Y. H., & Park, S. J. (2020). The effects of empathy and self-concept on problem solving: Focusing on the mediating effect of communication of nursing students. The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education, 26(4), 348-356.
Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Development and validation of the Basic Empathy Scale. Journal of Adolescence, 29(4), 589-611.
Judah, M. R., Grant, D. M., Mills, A. C., & Lechner, W. V. (2013). Factor structure and validation of the attentional control scale. Cognition and Emotion, 28(3), 433–451.
Montez, D. F., Calabro, F. J., & Luna, B. (2017). The expression of established cognitive brain states stabilizes with working memory development. Human Biology and Medicine Neuroscience, 6, 1-26.
Ozubko, J. D., & MacLeod, C. M. (2010). The production effect in memory: evidence that distinctiveness underlies the benefit. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 1543-1547.
Pinar, S. E., Yildirim, G., & Sayin, N. (2018). Investigating the psychological resilience, self-confidence and problem -solving skills of midwife candidates. Nurse Education Today, 64, 144 -149.
Preckel, K., Kanske, P., & Singer, T. (2018). On the interaction of social affect and cognition: empathy, compassion and theory of mind. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 19, 1–6.
Robertson, S. I. (2017). Problem solving: Perspectives from cognition and neuroscience (Second ed.). New York: Routledge.
Schreiter, S., Pijnenborg, G. H. M., & Het Rot, M. (2013). Empathy in adults with clinical or subclinical depressive symptoms. Journal of Affective Disorders, 150(1), 1–16
Son, J. W., & Lee, M. Y. (2020). Exploring the relationship between preservice teachers’ conceptions of problem solving and their problem-solving performances. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education.
Thoma, P., Sonnenburg, S., Marcinkowski, N., Juckel, G., Edel, M.-A., & Suchan, B. (2019). Social problem solving in adult patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatry Research, 112721.
Thomas, K. N., & Bardeen, J. R. (2020). The buffering effect of attentional control on the relationship between cognitive fusion and anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy, 103653.
Vallat-Azouvi, C., Pradat-Diehl, P., & Azouvi, P. (2012). The working memory questionnaire: A scale to assess everyday life problems related to deficits of working memory in brain injured patients. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 22(4), 634-649.
Van Lissa, C.J., Hawk, S.T., & Meeus, W.H.J. (2017). The effects of affective and cognitive empathy on adolescents’ behavior and outcomes in conflicts with mothers. J Exp Child Psychol. 158, 32–45.
Wagner, U., Handke, L., & Walter, H. (2015). The relationship between trait empathy and memory formation for social vs. non-social information. BMC psychology, 3(1), 1-8.
Weise, J. J., Greiff, S., & Sparfeldt, J. R. (2020). The moderating effect of prior knowledge on the relationship between intelligence and complex problem solving – Testing the Elshout-Raaheim hypothesis. Intelligence, 83, 101502.
Weisz, E., & Cikara, M. (2021). Strategic regulation of empathy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(3), 213-227.
Wiley, J., & Jarosz, A. F. (2012). Working memory capacity, attentional focus, and problem solving. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(4), 258-262.
Wright, J. K. X., Grainger, S. A., Coundouris, S. P., & Henry, J. D. (2021). Affective empathy in neurodegenerative disorders: The importance of measurement type. Neuroscience & Bio behavioral Reviews, 127, 808–819.
Yan, Z., Hong, S., Liu, F., & Su, Y. (2020). A meta‐analysis of the relationship between empathy and executive function. PsyCh Journal, 9(1), 34-43.
Zhang, M., Wang, S., Wang, Z., Peng, X., Fei, W., Geng, Y., & Zhang, T. (2021). Associations of affective and cognitive empathy with depressive symptoms among a sample of Chinese college freshmen. Journal of Affective Disorders, 292, 652–659.
Bang, M., & Sim, S. (2018). Relationship among empathy ability, creativity confluence competency and problem-solving ability in nursing students. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 9(8).
Bartlett, J., Kotrlik, J., & Higgins, C. (2001). Organizational research: Determining appropriation sample size in survey research. Information technology, learning, and performance Journal, 1 (19), 43- 50.
Bray, K. O., Anderson, V., Pantelis, C., Pozzi, E., Schwartz, O. S., Vijayakumar, N., & Whittle, S. (2021). Associations between cognitive and affective empathy and internalizing symptoms in late childhood. Journal of Affective Disorders, 290, 245-253.
Chen, J., Zou, Y., Sun, Y. H., & Cate, C. (2020). On problem solving and the evolution of cognitive abilities by mate choice: a reply to Camacho-Alpízar et al. (2020). Animal Behaviour, 165, e5-e7.
Dean, S., Razavy, S., Walsh, S., Zaslawski, C., Levett-Jones, T., & Cant, R. (2021). Building empathy awareness in undergraduate traditional Chinese Medicine students via an undercover ‘mystery shopper’ experience. Advances in Integrative Medicine.
DeCaro, M. S., & Beilock, S. L. (2010). The benefits and perils of attentional control. Effortless attention. A new perspective in the cognitive science of attention and action, 51-73.
DeCaro, M. S., Van Stockum, C. A., Jr., & Wieth, M. B. (2016). When higher working memory capacity hinders insight. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(1), 39–49.
DeCaro, M. S. (2014). Enclothed cognition and controlled attention during insight problem-solving. The Journal of Problem Solving, 7(1), 8.
Derryberry, D., & Reed, M. A. (2002). Anxiety-related attentional biases and their regulation by attentional control. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111(2), 225– 236.
Díaz, M., Córdova, F., Cañete, L., Palominos, F., Cifuentes, F., & Rivas, G. (2015). Inter-channel Correlation in the EEG Activity During a Cognitive Problem-Solving Task with an Increasing Difficulty Questions Progression. Procedia Computer Science, 55, 1420-1425.
Ewin, N., Chugh, R., Muurlink, O., Jarvis, J., & Luck, J. (2021). Empathy of project management students and why it matters. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 503–510.
Fadli, A. (2020). The effect of local wisdom-based Elsie learning model on the problem solving and communication skills of pre-service Islamic teachers. International Journal of Instruction, 13(1), 731-746.
Finn, P. R., Mazas, C. A., Justus, A. N., & Steinmetz, J. (2020). Early ‐onset alcoholism with conduct disorder: go/no go learning deficits, working memory capacity, and personality. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 26 (2), 186 -206.
Gilhooly, K., & Webb, M. E. (2018). Working memory in insight problem solving. Insight, 105-119.
Godfrey, D. A., Kehoe, C. M., Bastardas-Albero, A., & Babcock, J. C. (2020). Empathy mediates the relations between working memory and perpetration of intimate partner violence and aggression. Behavioral Sciences, 10(3), 63.
Goodhew, S. C., & Edwards, M. (2021). Attentional control both helps and harms empathy. Cognition, 206, 104505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104505
Heppner, P. P., & Petersen, C. H. (1982). The development and implications of a personal problem-solving inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 29(1), 66–75.
Hwang, Y. H., & Park, S. J. (2020). The effects of empathy and self-concept on problem solving: Focusing on the mediating effect of communication of nursing students. The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education, 26(4), 348-356.
Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Development and validation of the Basic Empathy Scale. Journal of Adolescence, 29(4), 589-611.
Judah, M. R., Grant, D. M., Mills, A. C., & Lechner, W. V. (2013). Factor structure and validation of the attentional control scale. Cognition and Emotion, 28(3), 433–451.
Montez, D. F., Calabro, F. J., & Luna, B. (2017). The expression of established cognitive brain states stabilizes with working memory development. Human Biology and Medicine Neuroscience, 6, 1-26.
Ozubko, J. D., & MacLeod, C. M. (2010). The production effect in memory: evidence that distinctiveness underlies the benefit. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 1543-1547.
Pinar, S. E., Yildirim, G., & Sayin, N. (2018). Investigating the psychological resilience, self-confidence and problem -solving skills of midwife candidates. Nurse Education Today, 64, 144 -149.
Preckel, K., Kanske, P., & Singer, T. (2018). On the interaction of social affect and cognition: empathy, compassion and theory of mind. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 19, 1–6.
Robertson, S. I. (2017). Problem solving: Perspectives from cognition and neuroscience (Second ed.). New York: Routledge.
Schreiter, S., Pijnenborg, G. H. M., & Het Rot, M. (2013). Empathy in adults with clinical or subclinical depressive symptoms. Journal of Affective Disorders, 150(1), 1–16
Son, J. W., & Lee, M. Y. (2020). Exploring the relationship between preservice teachers’ conceptions of problem solving and their problem-solving performances. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education.
Thoma, P., Sonnenburg, S., Marcinkowski, N., Juckel, G., Edel, M.-A., & Suchan, B. (2019). Social problem solving in adult patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatry Research, 112721.
Thomas, K. N., & Bardeen, J. R. (2020). The buffering effect of attentional control on the relationship between cognitive fusion and anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy, 103653.
Vallat-Azouvi, C., Pradat-Diehl, P., & Azouvi, P. (2012). The working memory questionnaire: A scale to assess everyday life problems related to deficits of working memory in brain injured patients. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 22(4), 634-649.
Van Lissa, C.J., Hawk, S.T., & Meeus, W.H.J. (2017). The effects of affective and cognitive empathy on adolescents’ behavior and outcomes in conflicts with mothers. J Exp Child Psychol. 158, 32–45.
Wagner, U., Handke, L., & Walter, H. (2015). The relationship between trait empathy and memory formation for social vs. non-social information. BMC psychology, 3(1), 1-8.
Weise, J. J., Greiff, S., & Sparfeldt, J. R. (2020). The moderating effect of prior knowledge on the relationship between intelligence and complex problem solving – Testing the Elshout-Raaheim hypothesis. Intelligence, 83, 101502.
Weisz, E., & Cikara, M. (2021). Strategic regulation of empathy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(3), 213-227.
Wiley, J., & Jarosz, A. F. (2012). Working memory capacity, attentional focus, and problem solving. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(4), 258-262.
Wright, J. K. X., Grainger, S. A., Coundouris, S. P., & Henry, J. D. (2021). Affective empathy in neurodegenerative disorders: The importance of measurement type. Neuroscience & Bio behavioral Reviews, 127, 808–819.
Yan, Z., Hong, S., Liu, F., & Su, Y. (2020). A meta‐analysis of the relationship between empathy and executive function. PsyCh Journal, 9(1), 34-43.
Zhang, M., Wang, S., Wang, Z., Peng, X., Fei, W., Geng, Y., & Zhang, T. (2021). Associations of affective and cognitive empathy with depressive symptoms among a sample of Chinese college freshmen. Journal of Affective Disorders, 292, 652–659.
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