Chronotype, cognitive abilities, and academic achievement: A meta-analytic investigation

Four meta-analyses examined relationships between morningness and cognitive ability (total N = 2177), eveningness and cognitive ability (total N = 1519), morningness and academic achievement (total N = 3220), and eveningness and academic achievement (total N = 700). The analyses focused on the population effect size (to reveal the effect across studies) and the homogeneity (to determine if the results of the several experiments are sufficiently similar to warrant their combination into an overall result). In all four cases, the aggregated correlations between chronotype and cognitive ability, as well as chronotype and academic achievement were found to be significant. Eveningness was found to be positively related to individuals' cognitive ability (r = .08), yet negatively related to indicators of academic achievement (r = −.14). Conversely, morningness had a negative relationship with cognitive ability (r = −.04) and a positive correlation with academic indicators (r = .16). Practical implications, including those pertaining to educational policy, are discussed.     

The Homogeneity and Heterogeneity of Moral Functioning in Preschool

The current study examined relations between distinct aspects of moral functioning, and their cognitive and emotional correlates, in preschool age children. Participants were 171 typically developing 3- to 6-year-olds. Each child completed several tasks, including (a) moral tasks assessing both performance of various moral actions and evaluations of moral scenarios presented both verbally and nonverbally; and (b) non-moral tasks assessing general cognitive skill, executive functioning, theory-of-mind, and emotion recognition. Shyness and empathic concern were assessed from video acquired during participation. Results demonstrated positive associations among distinct moral actions, as well as among distinct moral evaluation tasks, but few associations between tasks assessing moral actions and moral evaluation. Empathic concern and inhibitory control each emerged as important predictors of preschoolers’ moral functioning.     

What’s on the syllabus? An analysis of assessment criteria in first year courses across US and Spanish universities

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - This study examined differences in the assessment criteria used by the USA and Spanish university instructors to assign course grades. The US...     

Relational integration as a predictor of academic achievement

The current study aimed at applying a broad model of cognitive functions to predict performance in science and language courses at school as well as performance in a science course at university. We hypothesized that performance in science courses was predominantly related to the cognitive function known as relational integration, whereas performance in language courses should be best explained by individuals' short-term memory capacity. The sample consisted of 161 German undergraduate students who were asked to complete 33 cognitive tasks. School grades were also obtained. The analyses revealed that relational integration incrementally explained variance in science grades. Short-term memory acted as a predictor of language grades. However, mental speed was also substantially related to language grades. Predicting university exam scores revealed that short-term memory yielded an incremental predictive power. We conclude that academic performance requires different cognitive functions depending on a domain of study.