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The influence of reading and writing habits associated with education on the neuropsychological performance of Brazilian adults

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Abstract

This study evaluated the influence of the frequency of reading and writing habits (RWH) associated with education on the performance of adults in brief neuropsychological tasks. A sample of 489 Brazilian subjects, composed of 71% women, aged 21–80 years, with 2–23 years of formal education, was evaluated by the Brazilian Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery NEUPSILIN. This battery was developed to briefly examine orientation, attention, perception, memory, arithmetic abilities, language, praxis, and executive functions, in the context of Brazilian culture. Education was measured by years of study in teaching institutions, and the frequency of RWH was measured by a scale for specific reading and writing items. Six groups were composed by a combination of the variables education and frequency of RWH. One-way analysis of variance indicated significant differences between groups in the attention, memory, arithmetic abilities, language, constructional praxis, problem solving and verbal fluency tasks of NEUPSILIN. Results pointed to the relevance of the frequency of RWH to performance in attention, working memory, executive functions, and language tasks. Cognitive stimulation after the formal education period is essential for less educated individuals, and frequency of RWH may promote an improvement in cognitive development, as verified by neuropsychological tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychometry Department, Psychology Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Av. Pasteur, 250, Pavilhão Nilton Campos, Praia Vermelha, Urca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Josiane Pawlowski

  2. Department of Biological Psychology and Health, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Eduardo Remor

  3. Post-Graduate Program in Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Maria Alice de Mattos Pimenta Parente, Jerusa Fumagalli de Salles & Denise Ruschel Bandeira

  4. Post-Graduate Program in Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Rochele Paz Fonseca

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  1. Josiane Pawlowski
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  2. Eduardo Remor
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  3. Maria Alice de Mattos Pimenta Parente
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  4. Jerusa Fumagalli de Salles
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  5. Rochele Paz Fonseca
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  6. Denise Ruschel Bandeira
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Correspondence to Josiane Pawlowski.

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The preparation of the manuscript was made possible in part by a grant for doctorate study received by the first author (CAPES-UFRGS No. 0667/09-9) to a doctoral internship in the Department of Biological Psychology and Health, Psychology Faculty, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), from May 2009 to April 2010, under the guidance of the second author.

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Pawlowski, J., Remor, E., de Mattos Pimenta Parente, M.A. et al. The influence of reading and writing habits associated with education on the neuropsychological performance of Brazilian adults. Read Writ 25, 2275–2289 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-012-9357-8

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