Barraza Paulo, Rodríguez Eugenio
Center for Advanced Research in Education (CIAE), University of Chile, 8330014, Santiago, Chile.
Institute for Advanced Studies in Education (IE), University of Chile, 8330014, Santiago, Chile.
Heliyon. 2023 Sep 6;9(9):e19915. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19915. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Human teaching is a key behavior for the socialization of cultural knowledge. Previous studies suggest that human teaching behavior would support the development of executive and ToM skills, which in turn would refine the teaching behavior. Given this connection, it raises the question of whether subjects with professional training in teaching also have more efficient executive and ToM systems. To shed light on this issue, in the present study we compared the performance of professional teachers (N = 20, age range = 35-61 years) with a matched control group of non-teachers (N = 20, age range: 29-64 years) on tasks measuring working memory (Sternberg Task), cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), executive control (Attention Network Test), along with online ToM skills (Frith-Happé Animations Task), emotion recognition (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test) and first-order and second-order ToM (Yoni Task). We found that teachers were significantly more accurate on tasks involving cognitive flexibility (p = .014) and working memory (p = .040), and more efficient on tasks requiring executive control of attention (p = .046), compared to non-teachers. In ToM tasks, differences in accuracy between teachers and non-teachers were not found. But, teachers were slower to respond than non-teachers (about 2 s difference) on tasks involving emotion recognition (p = .0007) and the use of second-order affective ToM (p = .006). Collectively, our findings raise an interesting link between professional teaching and the development of cognitive skills critical for decision-making in challenging social contexts such as the classroom. Future research could explore ways to foster teachers' strengths in cognitive flexibility, working memory, and executive control of attention to enhance teaching strategies and student learning outcomes. Additionally, exploring factors behind slower response times in affective ToM tasks can guide teacher-training programs focused on interpersonal skills and improve teacher-student interactions.
人类教学是文化知识社会化的关键行为。先前的研究表明,人类教学行为会支持执行技能和心理理论(ToM)技能的发展,而这反过来又会优化教学行为。鉴于这种联系,这就提出了一个问题,即接受过专业教学培训的人是否也拥有更高效的执行系统和心理理论系统。为了阐明这个问题,在本研究中,我们将专业教师(N = 20,年龄范围 = 35 - 61岁)与匹配的非教师对照组(N = 20,年龄范围:29 - 64岁)在测量工作记忆(斯特恩伯格任务)、认知灵活性(威斯康星卡片分类测验)、执行控制(注意网络测试)以及在线心理理论技能(弗里思 - 哈佩动画任务)、情绪识别(眼睛中的心灵阅读测试)和一阶及二阶心理理论(约尼任务)的任务上的表现进行了比较。我们发现,与非教师相比,教师在涉及认知灵活性(p = 0.014)和工作记忆(p = 0.040)的任务上显著更准确,在需要对注意力进行执行控制的任务上效率更高(p = 0.046)。在心理理论任务中,未发现教师和非教师在准确性上的差异。但是,在涉及情绪识别(p = 0.0007)和二阶情感心理理论运用(p = 0.006)的任务上,教师的反应比非教师慢(相差约2秒)。总体而言,我们的研究结果揭示了专业教学与在具有挑战性的社会情境(如课堂)中决策至关重要的认知技能发展之间的有趣联系。未来的研究可以探索如何培养教师在认知灵活性、工作记忆和注意力执行控制方面的优势,以增强教学策略和学生学习成果。此外,探究情感心理理论任务中反应时间较慢背后的因素,可以指导专注于人际交往技能的教师培训项目,并改善师生互动。