scholarly journals Semantic fluency including task switching predicts academic success in medical school

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0244456
Author(s):  
Sabrina Kaufmann ◽  
Änne Glass ◽  
Peter Kropp ◽  
Brigitte Müller-Hilke
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Achievement Motivation ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Achievement Motivation Inventory ◽  
Compensatory Effort

Objectives The future state treaty on the admission of students to German medical schools calls for a variety of selection criteria among which at least two are required to be independent of school leaving grades. Against this background, the present study investigated achievement motivation and executive functions as predictors of academic success in medical school. Material and methods Second year medical students were assessed for executive functioning by using the Tower of London Test (ToL), a German version of the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), the Trail Making Test (TMT-A) and for motivation by using the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI). Academic success was evaluated twofold, i) whether the first state exam (M1) was passed at the earliest possible, after completion of the second year and ii) via the grades obtained. Results 81 out of 226 students enrolled participated in our study. Passing the M1 was best explained by semantic fluency including task switching. Moreover, academically successful students achieved significantly higher levels in the AMI-facets "compensatory effort" and "engagement". All students scored above average in the TMT-A and average in the ToL. Conclusion Alternating semantic fluency—requiring simultaneously inhibition, updating and task shifting—turned out highly predictive of academic success in medical school. Moreover, higher levels in "compensatory effort" and “engagement” suggested that both, increased energy expenditure as response to fear of failure and elevated readiness to exert effort also impacted positively on success.

Verbal fluency as a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 1055-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle McDonnell ◽  
Lauren Dill ◽  
Stella Panos ◽  
Stacy Amano ◽  
Warren Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Normal Aging ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
Phonemic Fluency ◽  
Discriminant Ability ◽  
State Examination

ABSTRACTObjectives:The goal of this study was to evaluate the ability of semantic (animal naming) and phonemic (FAS) fluency in their ability to discriminate between normal aging, amnestic-Mild Cognitive Impairment (a-MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Design:We used binary logistic regressions, multinomial regressions, and discriminant analysis to evaluate the predictive value of semantic and phonemic fluency in regards to specific diagnostic classifications.Setting:Outpatient geriatric neuropsychology clinic.Participants:232 participants (normal aging = 99, a-MCI = 90, AD = 43; mean age = 65.75 years).Measurements:Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), Controlled Oral Word Association TestResults:Results indicate that semantic and phonemic fluency were significant predictors of diagnostic classification, and semantic fluency explained a greater amount of the discriminant ability of the model.Conclusions:These results suggest that verbal fluency, particularly semantic fluency, may be an accurate and efficient tool in screening for early dementia in time-limited medical settings.

Sensitivity of the Semantic Fluency Subtest of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status

2002 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 858-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel T. Gontkovsky ◽  
Kelli L. McSwan ◽  
James G. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Word Association ◽  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Neurocognitive Dysfunction ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
Neuropsychological Status ◽  
Neurological Patients ◽  
Repeatable Battery ◽  
Psychometric Validity

This study examined the concurrent validity of the Semantic Fluency subtest of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. Performance by cognitively impaired vs nonimpaired neurological patients was examined in relation to the performance of these groups on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test. Analyses indicated these tests are largely equivalent with respect to both sensitivity to neurocognitive dysfunction and discrimination of cognitively impaired from nonimpaired neurological patients. Findings support the psychometric validity of the Semantic Fluency subtest in the evaluation of brain dysfunction.

scholarly journals Learning strategies and their correlation with academic success in biology and physiology examinations during the preclinical years of medical school

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0245851
Author(s):  
Annemarie Hogh ◽  
Brigitte Müller-Hilke
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Successful Completion ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Second Year ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Efficient Learning

Background Efficient learning is essential for successful completion of the medical degree and students use a variety of strategies to cope with university requirements. However, strategies that lead to academic success have hardly been explored. We therefore evaluated the individual learning approaches used by a cohort of medical students in their first and second preclinical years and analyzed possible correlations with examination scores. Methods 107 students participated in our longitudinal survey on cognitive, meta-cognitive and resource-oriented learning strategies using the LIST-questionnaire (Lernstrategien im Studium). The students were surveyed twice while in their first and second year of medical school, respectively and academic performances were assessed as scores obtained in two examinations written shortly after the LIST surveys. Statistical evaluations included comparisons and cluster analyses. Results We here identified four different patterns of learning strategy combinations, describing the relaxed, diligent, hard-working, and sociable learners. About half of the students stayed true to their initially registered pattern of learning strategy combinations while 53 students underwent a change between the first and second surveys. Changes were predominantly made between the relaxed and the sociable and between the diligent and the hard-working learners, respectively. Examination results suggested that the diligent and hard-working learners were academically more successful than the relaxed and sociable ones. Conclusion Early habits of sociable learning were quickly abandoned however, not in favor of more successful patterns. It is therefore essential to develop interventions on learning skills that have a lasting impact on the pattern of the students´ learning strategy combinations.

Controlled Oral Word Association Test

1983 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Benton ◽  
de S. K. Hamsher ◽  
A. B. Sivan
Keyword(s):  
Word Association ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Word Association Test

Meditation buffers medical student compassion from the deleterious effects of depression.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer S Mascaro ◽  
Sean Kelley ◽  
Alana Darcher ◽  
Lobsang Negi ◽  
Carol Worthman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Student ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Daily Functioning ◽  
Wait List ◽  
School Students ◽  
Social Emotions ◽  
The Face ◽  
Second Year

Increasing data suggest that for medical school students the stress of academic and psychologicaldemands can impair social emotions that are a core aspect of compassion and ultimately physiciancompetence. Few interventions have proven successful for enhancing physician compassion inways that persist in the face of suffering and that enable sustained caretaker well-being. To addressthis issue, the current study was designed to (1) investigate the feasibility of cognitively-basedcompassion training (CBCT) for second-year medical students, and (2) test whether CBCT decreasesdepression, enhances compassion, and improves daily functioning in medical students. Comparedto the wait-list group, students randomized to CBCT reported increased compassion, and decreasedloneliness and depression. Changes in compassion were most robust in individuals reporting highlevels of depression at baseline, suggesting that CBCT may benefit those most in need by breakingthe link between personal suffering and a concomitant drop in compassion

Differences in Reaction Times of Extraverts and Introverts to Rapaport's Word Association Test

1979 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunio Shiomi
Keyword(s):  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Personality Inventory ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
Positive Correlations

For 40 Japanese undergraduates reaction times to the Rapa-port Word Association Test were recorded. Significant negative correlations were obtained between reaction times and Extraversion scores on the Maudsley Personality Inventory, but positive correlations with Neuroticism scores were obtained. These results were discussed in terms of the defense mechanisms of the ego and differences in types of personality.

When Do They Learn? A Study of Drug Awareness in Children in a Rural Elementary School

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice K. Freeman ◽  
William H. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Significant Rise ◽  
Rural Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Word Association Test ◽  
The Third ◽  
Drug Culture ◽  
Local Students ◽  
Rural Elementary School

The “awareness” of drugs among rural elementary school students was studied with a word-association test of drug slang and words with no drug connotations given to students randomly selected from each of the six grades. The first grades were conscious primarily of alcohol. The significant rise in drug-related responses came between the third and fourth grades, while the biggest shift to non-alcohol drug responses came between the fourth and fifth grades. The study suggests that rural students are not immune to the influence of the drug culture. Curriculum planners should determine when the local students develop an awareness of drugs.

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