Poder preditivo da idade e a inteligência no desempenho de uma tarefa de planificação: Torre de Londres

Abstract

The planning ability is a key aspect of the executive function, which allows people to generate the step sequence required to efficiently solve a problem involving goal-directed behavior. This ability is developed during childhood and early adolescence and is essential for a daily-based efficient functioning. The aim of this work is to study the predictive power of age and intelligence on planning, in a sample of children from 6-to 13-years of age. A total of 240 children participated on the study, equally divided into four age groups: 6-, 8-, 11-, and 13-years old. The Tower of London and two subtests of the Wechsler Intelligent Test for Children were administered. To determine the level of association between the variables, a correlation analysis was conducted, and to stablish the predictive power of age and inteligence over planning, a linear regression analysis was carried out. Results showed that both variables, age and inteligence, are positively associated with performance on the Tower of London, and also that those variables have a predictive power on the performance of the planning task. These results allow us to conclude that planning is an ability that is developed during childhood and the early ages of adolescence, and that the intellectual level has an effect on the ability to generate the step sequences to solve goal-directed problems.