Observational studyPloS one2020
Semantic fluency including task switching predicts academic success in medical school.
Observational study in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Subcortical contributions to language deficits in Parkinson's disease.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic and work-related variables affecting achievement motivation assessed with the LMI among professionally active nurses under study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Exploring the Role of Cognitive Capacity and Adaptive Learning in Professional Education: A Scoping Review.Medical science educator · 2025Review
- Investigating the relationship between CSAT scores and prefrontal fNIRS signals during cognitive tasks using a quantum annealing algorithm.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid and Glutamate Concentrations in the Striatum and Anterior Cingulate Cortex Not Found to Be Associated with Cognitive Flexibility.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Using Self-Regulated Learning Microanalysis to Examine Regulatory Processes in Clerkship Students Engaged in Practice Questions.Perspectives on medical education · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe future state treaty on the admission of students to German medical schools calls for a variety of selection criteria among which at least two are required to be independent of school leaving grades. Against this background, the present study investigated achievement motivation and executive functions as predictors of academic success in medical school. MATERIAL AND
methodsSecond year medical students were assessed for executive functioning by using the Tower of London Test (ToL), a German version of the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), the Trail Making Test (TMT-A) and for motivation by using the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI). Academic success was evaluated twofold, i) whether the first state exam (M1) was passed at the earliest possible, after completion of the second year and ii) via the grades obtained.
results81 out of 226 students enrolled participated in our study. Passing the M1 was best explained by semantic fluency including task switching. Moreover, academically successful students achieved significantly higher levels in the AMI-facets "compensatory effort" and "engagement". All students scored above average in the TMT-A and average in the ToL.
conclusionAlternating semantic fluency-requiring simultaneously inhibition, updating and task shifting-turned out highly predictive of academic success in medical school. Moreover, higher levels in "compensatory effort" and "engagement" suggested that both, increased energy expenditure as response to fear of failure and elevated readiness to exert effort also impacted positively on success.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.