Cognitive Predictors of Academic Success: How Do the General Patterns Work in the Early Stages of Education?

Abstract

The article provides an overview of modern works devoted to the study of cognitive predictors of academic success. The general patterns of forecasting are revealed: the most powerful and universal predictor of academic success at different stages of school education is psychometric intelligence; creativity is less significant and rather unstable. It is argued that these patterns are poorly traced at the level of preschool education. Particular cognitive functions are significant for predicting the future educational achievements of preschoolers: information processing speed, visual perception (in combination with motor functions), short-term memory, and attention. Spatial abilities have a certain prognostic potential, though reasoning in preschoolers is not a strong predictor of academic success; executive functions have the greatest predictive power. It is noted that the general patterns in predicting the academic success of students can be traced in elementary school: the predictive potentials of psychometric intelligence are revealed, the power of individual cognitive abilities (in particular, spatial abilities) increases, the contribution of executive functions to the prediction decreases. The general tendency for non-cognitive factors (educational motivation, some personality traits) to increase with age also begins to appear in elementary school.