Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): CJE and CEDETi publish article on test that measures executive functions
Teams from the Center for Educational Justice (CJE) and the Center for the Development of Inclusion Technologies (CEDETi) of the Catholic University began field work on group evaluations of Yellow-Red, an instrument developed to directly assess executive functions in children of 6 to 11 years in a playful format and with digital support, which resulted in the publication of a scientific article on the matter.
What are executive functions? They are psychological processes of great importance for the proper functioning in various areas of human development, including academic performance. Therefore, both from a clinical and an educational point of view, there is great interest in how they are evaluated.
Teams from the Center for Educational Justice (CJE) and the Center for the Development of Inclusion Technologies (CEDETi) of the Catholic University began field work on group evaluations of Yellow-Red, an instrument developed to directly assess executive functions in children of 6 to 11 years in a playful format and with digital support, which resulted in the publication of a scientific article on the matter.
Yellow-Red can be applied by professors, teachers, psychologists and psychologists from educational establishments, and generates an automated report with the results, which allows knowing the state of development of the executive functions of the students, with respect to the norm. national test, by age.
The test, worked on since 2016 by CEDETi UC in collaboration with CJE, is made up of some adapted international tests and others created from scratch by the team. Its design was based on a three-factor model of executive functioning: inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Yellow-Red comprises six subtests: Cognitive Inhibition, Behavioral Inhibition, Auditory Working Memory, Visual Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, and a Global Assessment Test of Executive Functions.
Yellow-Red can be applied by professors, teachers, psychologists and psychologists from educational establishments, and generates an automated report with the results, which allows knowing the state of development of the executive functions of the students, with respect to the norm. national test, by age. In this way, support strategies can be designed for the development of executive functions and for learning in general.
Camila Martínez, CJE associate researcher, highlights that Yellow Red “is a tool that is easy and quick to apply and that, by giving automated results, it avoids variabilities when interpreting the data.”
Currently, the teams from both UC centers are working on the versions for blind and deaf boys and girls, as well as the application of Yellow-Red in populations with Special Educational Needs (SEN).
Likewise, it states that “information on the state of development of executive functions can be of great importance to understand the general profile of the student and to be able to provide the pertinent support when necessary.”
Meanwhile, Victoria Espinoza, Director of Research at CEDETi UC, comments that “during the first semester of this year we will have the launch of the Chilean version of Yellow Red. Meanwhile, we will continue with the application of international research, as it will to begin to carry out now in Thailand by its Ministry of Education. In addition, we will continue with the evaluation and standardization of this test, in Germany”.
Currently, the teams from both UC centers are working on the versions for blind and deaf boys and girls, as well as the application of Yellow-Red in populations with Special Educational Needs (SEN).