Observation of cognitive flexibility, visuospatial skills, and problem-solving in fourth-grade children from two schools in Montevideo

Cognitive flexibility, visuospatial skills and problem solving are abilities that accompany maturational development that contribute to learning. Descriptive and predictive studies of these constructs have been conducted internationally. Nationally, there is very little information, so we sought to contribute to the understanding of the interaction between some components of the Executive Functions (cognitive flexibility, visuospatial memory and problem solving) and mental rotation with fourth-year school students. In the study, these cognitive abilities were evaluated using specific measurement instruments (Wisconsin Card Sorting Tests, Corsi Cubes, Mental Rotation, Raven's Progressive Matrices and Tower of London) in a sample of 75 students from two schools in Montevideo. The results were analyzed in relation to key normative and background studies, carried out with different school populations from different countries, to begin to identify performance in these components in the national school population. Likewise, based on previous studies, the associations between Executive Functions and mental rotation were analyzed. The results showed that the means and medians of the indicators were close to previous studies for almost all tests. The mental rotation test correlated positively and significantly with the instruments that measure cognitive flexibility and problem solving, especially with the Raven test. No significant differences were found in relation to gender.