Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia
Reading acquisition is extremely difficult for about 5% of children because they are affected by a heritable neurobiological disorder called developmental dyslexia (DD). Intervention studies can be used to investigate the causal role of neurocognitive deficits in DD. Recently, it has been proposed t...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/2/171 |
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| author | Sara Bertoni Sandro Franceschini Giovanna Puccio Martina Mancarella Simone Gori Andrea Facoetti |
| author_facet | Sara Bertoni Sandro Franceschini Giovanna Puccio Martina Mancarella Simone Gori Andrea Facoetti |
| author_sort | Sara Bertoni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reading acquisition is extremely difficult for about 5% of children because they are affected by a heritable neurobiological disorder called developmental dyslexia (DD). Intervention studies can be used to investigate the causal role of neurocognitive deficits in DD. Recently, it has been proposed that action video games (AVGs)—enhancing attentional control—could improve perception and working memory as well as reading skills. In a partial crossover intervention study, we investigated the effect of AVG and non-AVG training on attentional control using a conjunction visual search task in children with DD. We also measured the non-alphanumeric rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological decoding and word reading before and after AVG and non-AVG training. After both video game training sessions no effect was found in non-alphanumeric RAN and in word reading performance. However, after only 12 h of AVG training the attentional control was improved (i.e., the set-size slopes were flatter in visual search) and phonological decoding speed was accelerated. Crucially, attentional control and phonological decoding speed were increased only in DD children whose video game score was highly efficient after the AVG training. We demonstrated that only an efficient AVG training induces a plasticity of the fronto-parietal attentional control linked to a selective phonological decoding improvement in children with DD. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:18:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-febcd97f813d474cbb6bfcb3b3f0ed94 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:18:30Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj.art-febcd97f813d474cbb6bfcb3b3f0ed942023-12-03T15:15:03ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252021-01-0111217110.3390/brainsci11020171Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental DyslexiaSara Bertoni0Sandro Franceschini1Giovanna Puccio2Martina Mancarella3Simone Gori4Andrea Facoetti5Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, ItalyDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35122 Padova, ItalyDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35122 Padova, ItalyDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35122 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, ItalyDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35122 Padova, ItalyReading acquisition is extremely difficult for about 5% of children because they are affected by a heritable neurobiological disorder called developmental dyslexia (DD). Intervention studies can be used to investigate the causal role of neurocognitive deficits in DD. Recently, it has been proposed that action video games (AVGs)—enhancing attentional control—could improve perception and working memory as well as reading skills. In a partial crossover intervention study, we investigated the effect of AVG and non-AVG training on attentional control using a conjunction visual search task in children with DD. We also measured the non-alphanumeric rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological decoding and word reading before and after AVG and non-AVG training. After both video game training sessions no effect was found in non-alphanumeric RAN and in word reading performance. However, after only 12 h of AVG training the attentional control was improved (i.e., the set-size slopes were flatter in visual search) and phonological decoding speed was accelerated. Crucially, attentional control and phonological decoding speed were increased only in DD children whose video game score was highly efficient after the AVG training. We demonstrated that only an efficient AVG training induces a plasticity of the fronto-parietal attentional control linked to a selective phonological decoding improvement in children with DD.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/2/171visual spatial attentionattentional trainingreading disordersub-lexical routephonological dyslexiaexecutive functions |
| spellingShingle | Sara Bertoni Sandro Franceschini Giovanna Puccio Martina Mancarella Simone Gori Andrea Facoetti Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia Brain Sciences visual spatial attention attentional training reading disorder sub-lexical route phonological dyslexia executive functions |
| title | Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia |
| title_full | Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia |
| title_fullStr | Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia |
| title_short | Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia |
| title_sort | action video games enhance attentional control and phonological decoding in children with developmental dyslexia |
| topic | visual spatial attention attentional training reading disorder sub-lexical route phonological dyslexia executive functions |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/2/171 |
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