Title: Cognitive and academic skills in two developmental cohorts of different ability level: a mutualistic network perspective
Abstract: Mutualistic theories suggest that the mastering of a skill, either cognitive or academic, supports and amplifies the development of other such abilities. A mutualistic network framework was applied to map the interrelations between identical cognitive and academic tasks in two age-matched developmental cohorts (age range 8 to 18). One cohort was drawn from the general school population and the other included struggling learners (N= 350 per cohort). The community sample outperformed the struggling learners across all cognitive and academic tests, yet tasks were similarly interrelated across groups. Some differences in association strength were also observed: academic skills were more closely coupled in typical relative to struggling learners, while maths was more strongly related to cognitive skills in the struggling learners.