The relationship of hyperarousal patterns to academic determination and cognitive flexibility in intellectually gifted and normal students

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between hyperarousal patterns and academic determination and cognitive flexibility among mentally gifted and normal students. The study relied on the descriptive comparative correlational approach. The study sample consisted of (320) male and female students in secondary school in Cairo Governorate, with an average age of (15.5) years and a standard deviation of (1.4), with (120) male and female students among the mentally gifted, including (50) males and (70) females. The hyperarousal scale (OEQll) prepared by Falk et al. was used. (1999) Translated and standardized by Al-Mutairi and Jarwan (2008), the cognitive flexibility scale prepared by Hasaballah (2020), and the academic determination scale prepared by the researcher. The results of the study showed a positive and significant relationship between the patterns of hyper-arousal and academic determination in the sample as a whole. A positive and significant relationship was also found between the patterns of hyper-arousal and cognitive flexibility in the sample as a whole. The results also concluded that hyper-arousal is a statistically significant factor in predicting academic determination among secondary school students for both the mentally gifted, the normal, and the sample as a whole. The multiple linear regression model for predicting cognitive flexibility among secondary school students through hyper-arousal was statistically significant for all groups (mentally gifted, normal, and the sample as a whole). The results also showed statistically significant differences at the level (0.01) between the mentally gifted and the normal in favor of the gifted in all dimensions of hyper-arousal, academic determination, and cognitive flexibility. 
Keywords: Overexcitabilities - Academic grit - Cognitive flexibility - Intellectually gifted.