Carina Ferreira, who recently completed her master's degree in Neuropsychology at FCSE, has published an open access article co-authored by NICE Lab researchers Prof. Alexandre Castro Caldas and Prof. Joana Rato in Trends in Higher Education (MDPI).
The study analyzed how sleep quality, anxiety, and executive attention influence the academic performance of university students during exam periods, comparing students from Medicine, Law, and Economics. With a sample of 51 students from three UCP faculties, the researchers observed that sleep patterns and anxiety levels differ between groups, with medical students reporting poorer sleep quality, while law and economics students showed differences in attention and inhibitory control mechanisms. The results indicate that poorer sleep and high anxiety are associated with lower final grades, revealing important psychological factors that affect academic performance, regardless of the course attended.
Although there were no significant differences in anxiety between the course groups, the cognitive abilities assessed by the attention tests varied between groups, suggesting that the way students deal with pressure and mental load may differ depending on the academic context. The authors highlight that interventions focused on sleep hygiene and stress management may be useful in improving student performance in highly demanding situations, recommending that universities promote psychological support strategies to address these common challenges.
