In school settings, students are typically evaluated using group achievement tests, IQ scales, and college entrance exams that focus more on rote-verbal skills (e.g., vocabulary, mathematical facts) than on higher level executive functions (e.g., abstract thinking, problem solving). However, recent neuropsychological findings suggest that rote-knowledge skills and executive functions are divergent cognitive domains that can be dissociated in both adults with frontal lesions and children with neurodevelopmental disorders. New correlational findings obtained from 470 children and adolescents provide additional support for the divergent nature of these cognitive domains and the existence of subgroups of students who exhibit either strengths in abstract, creative thinking with relative weaknesses in rote-verbal skills or vice versa. The results suggest that current school assessment practices may result in academic roadblocks for those students who have strengths in abstract, creative thinking but whose relative weaknesses in rote-verbal skills may hinder their ability to take college entrance exams.
Ardila, A., Pineda, D., & Rosselli, M. (2000). Correlation between intelligence test scores and executive function measures. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 15, 31-36.
2.
Baldo, J. V., Shimamura, A. P., Delis, D. C., Kramer, J., & Kaplan, E. (2001). Verbal and design fluency in patients with frontal lobe lesions. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 7, 586-596.
3.
Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7-15.
4.
Bohm, B., Smedler, A. C., & Forssberg, H. (2004). Impulse control, working memory and other executive functions in preterm children when starting school. Acta Paediatrica, 93, 1363-1371.
5.
Cato, M. A., Delis, D. C., Abildskov, T. J., & Bigler, E. (2004). Assessing the elusive cognitive deficits associated with ventromedial prefrontal damage: A case of a modern-day Phineas Cage. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10, 453-465.
6.
Damasio, A. R. (1995). On some functions of the human prefrontal cortex. New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
7.
Delis, D. C., Kaplan, E., & Kramer, J. H. (2001). Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
8.
Delis, D. C., Squire, L. R., Bihrle, A. M., & Massman, P. J. (1992). Componential analysis of problem-solving ability: Performance of patients with frontal lobe damage and amnesic patients on a new sorting test. Neuropsychologia, 30, 683-697.
9.
Filley, C. M., Young, D. A., Reardon, M. S., & Wilkening, G. N. (1999). Frontal lobe lesions and executive dys-function in children. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology, 12, 156-160.
10.
Frank, P., Kusaka, S., & Rosen, G. (2002). Einstein: His life and times. New York: Da Capo Press. (Original work published 1947)
11.
Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
12.
Geurts, H. M., Verte, S., Oosterlaan, J., Roeyers, H., & Sergeant, J. A. (2005). ADHD subtypes: Do they differ in their executive functioning profile? Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20, 457-477.
13.
Heilman, K. M. (2002). The making of a behavioral neurologist-neuropsychologist. In A. Y. Stringer, E. L. Cooley, & A.-L. Christensen (Eds.), Pathways to prominence in neuropsychology (pp. 139-155). New York: Psychology Press.
14.
Jensen, A. R. (1998). The G factor: The science of mental ability. Westport, CT: Praeger.
15.
Luria, A. R. (1973). The working brain. New York: Basic Books.
16.
McDonald, C. R., Delis, D. C.Norman, M. A., Tecoma, E. S., & Iragui, V. J. (2005). Discriminating patients with frontal lobe epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy: Utility of a multi-level design fluency test. Neuropsychology, 19, 806-813.
17.
McDonald, C. R., Delis, D. C., Norman, M. A., Tecoma, E. S., & Iragui-Madozi, V. I. (2005). Is impairment in set-shifting specific to frontal-lobe dysfunction? Evidence from patients with frontal-lobe or temporal-lobe epilepsy. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11, 477-481.
18.
McDonald, C. R., Delis, D. C., Norman, M. A., Wetter, S. R., Tecoma, E. S., & Iragui, V. J. (2005). Response inhibition and set-shifting in patients with frontal-lobe epilepsy or temporal-lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy and Behavior, 7, 438-446.
19.
Mesulam, M. (1986). Frontal cortex and behaviour. Annals of Neurology, 19, 320-324.
20.
Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Sternberg, R. J., Lautrey, J., & Lubart, T. I. (2003). Models of intelligence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
22.
Stringer, A. Y., Cooley, E. L, & Christensen, A.-L. (Eds.). (2002). Pathways to prominence in neuropsychology. New York: Psychology Press.
23.
Stuss, D. T., Benson, D. F., Kaplan, E. F., Weir, W. S., Naeser, M. A., Lieberman, I., et al. (1983). The involvement of orbitofrontal cerebrum in cognitive tasks. Neuropsychologia, 21, 235-248.
24.
Stuss, D. T., & Knight, R. T. (2002). Principles of frontal lobe function. New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
Teuber, H. L. (1964). The riddle of frontal lobe functions in man. In J. M. Warren & K. Akert (Eds.), The frontal-granular cortex and behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.
26.
Wechsler, D. (1999). Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
27.
Welsh, M. C., Pennington, B. F., & Grossier, D. B. (1991). A normative-developmental study of executive function: A window on prefrontal function in children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 7, 131-149.
