VIDEOGIOCHI - e

VIDEOGIOCHI:
influenze sul comportamento
e sul funzionamento
psicologico in età di sviluppo
L’aumento dell’uso dei videogiochi (oggi disponibili
anche in rete sui cellulari) è crescente, anche se con
variazioni nei diversi paesi e nelle diverse culture (in
Italia: fra le attività preferite : 26% fra i 3 e i 5 anni,
70% fra i 16 e i 17 anni)
Vi è una forte pressione del mercato per spingere
all’acquisto di videogiochi e attrezzature elettroniche
sempre più potenti e complesse
Numerose ricerche hanno indagato gli effetti dei
diversi tipi di videogiochi sul funzionamento cognitivo
e sui comportamenti sociali di bambini e adolescenti
Numerose ricerche hanno indagato gli effetti dei
diversi tipi di videogiochi sul funzionamento cognitivo
e sui comportamenti sociali di bambini e adolescenti
EFFETTI NEGATIVI dei videogiochi
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
EFFETTI NEGATIVI dei videogiochi
Uno dei problemi più dibattuti: possibili effetti negativi
sul comportamento e sulle prestazioni scolastiche
dell’abuso di alcuni tipi di videogiochi…
-  esposizione a videogiochi violenti incrementa
l’attivazione psicologica, può aumentare il pensiero e
il comportamento aggressivo e i conflitti
interpersonali (effetti verificati anche in Italia su 571
ragazzi fra i 7 e i 15 anni: Milani et al., 2012)
-  un uso molte frequente di videogiochi può
peggiorare il rendimento scolastico (Gentile e
Anderson, 2003; Jackson et al., 2011)
EFFETTI NEGATIVI dei videogiochi
L’uso di videogiochi violenti sembra poter influenzare
l’attività cerebrale
W. Mattews et al. (2011) - 97° Radiological Society of North
America annual meeting.
22 maschi tra i 18 e i 29 anni assegnati casualmente a 2
diverse condizioni sperimentali: 10 ore di gioco con
videogiochi violenti nella 1° settimana + non gioco nella
2° settimana oppure gioco con videogioco non violento
nella seconda settimana.
Alla fine della 1° e della 2° settimana
ai giocatori venivano somministrati
due compiti attentivi.
EFFETTI NEGATIVI dei videogiochi
2 compiti attentivi, compiti Stroop modificati:
-  emotional Stroop task: i partecipanti dovevano identificare il
colore delle parole in una lista di parole “emotive”, in cui alcune
parole erano violente (es. “hit”), altre non-violente;
-  counting Stroop task: i partecipanti dovevano contare una serie
di parole su di uno schermo di un computer indicanti un numero
diverso dal numero degli item.
Nel corso dei due test veniva utilizzata una fMRI per rilevare
l’attività cerebrale dei partecipanti.
Dopo la prima settimana (esposizione a
giochi violenti) i partecipanti mostravano
meno attività nelle aree cerebrali legate
ad attivazione emotiva e meno attività
nelle aree legate a self-control/inibizione
Questi effetti possono essere particolarmente
intensi per alcuni tipi di videogames
EFFETTI NEGATIVI dei videogiochi
L’abuso di videogiochi più inoltre portare a:
- dipendenza (Dill e Dill, 1998):
comportamento compulsivo verso i giochi elettronici,
sacrificando tempo e denaro a scapito di scuola e
attività sociali
- particolarmente per soggetti predisposti,
conseguenze fisiche:
allucinazioni visive ed uditive, dolori articolari, epilessia
in soggetti fotosensibili (Riesenhuber, 2004)
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
EFFETTI NEGATIVI dei videogiochi
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
EFFETTI NEGATIVI dei videogiochi
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
Abilità sociali
Molti videogiochi, specificamente progettati e
adeguatamente usati, hanno mostrato potenzialità
positive:
- per incrementare comportamenti socialmente
positivi (Bartholow & Sestir, 2010), e anche in
soggetti con problemi di sviluppo.
- per promuovere ed aiutare la formazione di abilità
sociali (capacità di negoziare i ruoli, comprendere
le regole della società).
Abilità cognitive
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
-  per facilitare l’autoregolazione, sia nell’ambito
emozionale che in quello cognitivo per esempio,
nei casi di deficit attentivo e iperattivita (ADHD)
(Salonius e Pasternak, 2005).
-  per promuovere l’acquisizione o l’incremento di
capacità spaziali, risoluzione di problemi, abilità
matematiche, per la coordinazione visuo-motoria,
destrezza manuale, tempi di reazione (Dill e Dill,
1998).
-  per training abilità cognitive in disturbi
dell’apprendimento (es. dislessia).
-  per favorire e sostenere l’apprendimento.
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi possono avere effetti positivi nei
processi visivi e attentivi:
soggetti che usano più frequentemente alcuni tipi di
videogiochi hanno mostrato prestazioni migliori in
abilità implicanti l’elaborazione di scene visive e
sequenze rapide di stimoli; coloro che li usano
meno frequentemente mostrano un aumento di
punteggi dopo un esercizio con gli stessi
videogiochi anche limitato (Green e Bavelier, 2003)
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi possono avere effetti positivi nei
processi visivi e attentivi:
in un compito di numerazione rapida di oggetti
presentati a video coloro che usano più
frequentemente i videogiochi hanno mostrato
prestazioni migliori.
Ciò potrebbe essere dovuto a un processo
“preattentivo”, con l’utilizzo di una strategia
“automatica” di scansione più veloce
(Riesenhuber, 2004)
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi possono avere incrementare processi di
organizzazione spaziale dell’informazione:
MARBLE MADNESS
E’ stato utilizzato un gioco che coinvolge capacità di
tipo spaziale, al fine di confrontare l’incremento delle
abilità spaziali in un gruppo sperimentale che aveva usato
quel gioco e in un gruppo di controllo, che aveva usato un
altro gioco che non coinvolge abilità spaziali.
(Subrahmanyam e Greenfield, 1994)
CONJECTURE
=
WORD GAME
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi possono avere incrementare processi di
organizzazione spaziale dell’informazione:
61 ragazzi di 11 anni divisi in due gruppi à videogioco
CON abilità spaziali, videogioco SENZA abilità spaziali.
Test che misura abilità spaziali (Pellegrino et al., 1987)
PRIMA e DOPO aver giocato per 2h e 45 minuti con i
videogiochi:
ü  batteria con 10 subtest, 5 per abilità spaziali
statiche, 5 per abilità spaziali dinamiche.
(Subrahmanyam e Greenfield, 1994)
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi possono avere incrementare processi di
organizzazione spaziale dell’informazione:
ü  batteria con 10 subtest, 5 per abilità spaziali
statiche, 5 per abilità spaziali dinamiche.
3 scale:
Memory lane: riconoscere il percorso di 3 oggetti in
movimento;
Extrapolation: riprodurre la traiettoria di un
oggetto in movimento;
Intercept: intercettare un oggetto in movimento
(UFO) con un altro oggetto in movimento (missile).
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi possono avere incrementare processi di
organizzazione spaziale dell’informazione:
Nel post-test si è osservata una diminuzione
significativa degli errori nel compito di abilità
spaziali nei soggetti del primo gruppo (Video
Game Group).
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi possono avere incrementare processi di
organizzazione spaziale dell’informazione:
Miglioramento più
marcato nei
bambini con scarse
abilità spaziali
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi sono utili come training per abilità attentive
nella dislessia.
Please cite this article in press as: Franceschini et al., Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better, Current Biology
(2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.044
Current Biology 23, 1–5, March 18, 2013 ª2013 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.044
Report
Action Video Games Make
Dyslexic Children Read Better
Sandro Franceschini,1,3 Simone Gori,1,2,3 Milena Ruffino,2
Simona Viola,1 Massimo Molteni,2 and Andrea Facoetti1,2,3,*
1Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab,
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua,
Padua 35131, Italy
2Developmental Neuropsychology Unit, Scientific Institute
E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco 23842, Italy
Summary
Learning to read is extremely difficult for about 10% of children; they are affected by a neurodevelopmental disorder
called dyslexia [1, 2]. The neurocognitive causes of dyslexia
are still hotly debated [3–12]. Dyslexia remediation is far
from being fully achieved [13], and the current treatments
demand high levels of resources [1]. Here, we demonstrate
strategies) appears to be the most efficient treatment
[1, 2, 13]. However, all the existing treatments are controversial
and demand high levels of resources. Moreover, the cognitive
processes underlie the improvements in reading ability remain
unclear [1, 4].
Attentional dysfunction is an important core deficit in
dyslexic individuals [6, 9–12, 16–18]. Letters must be precisely
selected from among other cluttering graphemes [19] by rapid
orientation of visual attention [20] before the correct letterto-speech sound integration applies [3–6, 9, 17]. Efficient
attention improves the perception of stimuli [20] and increases
the development of neural connections [21] between letter and
speech sound [4, 5]. An attentional deficit reduces the success
of traditional dyslexia treatments, because learning ability is
hampered by spatial and temporal attention dysfunction.
Thus, treatment of attentional deficits could be crucial in
dyslexia remediation.
2 premesse…
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
letters to nature
Premessa 1
..............................................................
Action video game modifies visual
selective attention
C. Shawn Green & Daphne Bavelier
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University
of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA
.............................................................................................................................................................................
As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in
today’s society, it is worth considering its potential consequences
on perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an
organism to an altered visual environment often results in
modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of
perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced
increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it
occurs, tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to new tasks is rarely found1–10. Here we show, by contrast,
that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a range of
visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in different
aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players as
compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment,
non-players trained on an action video game show marked
improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.
We first used the flanker compatibility effect, a standard experimental paradigm in attentional studies, to determine whether
video-game playing produces an overall increase in attentional
capacity11. This task measures the effect of a to-be-ignored distractor on a target task. The size of this distractor effect has been
proposed to provide an index of ‘left-over’ attentional resources. In
Identificare se un quadrato o
un rombo compare in uno
dei 6 cerchi ignorando
l’elemento distrattore:
Es. flanker compatibility task
-  distrattore compatibile
-  distrattore incompatibile
12
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
letters to nature
Premessa 1
..............................................................
Action video game modifies visual
selective attention
C. Shawn Green & Daphne Bavelier
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University
of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA
.............................................................................................................................................................................
As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in
today’s society, it is worth considering its potential consequences
on perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an
organism to an altered visual environment often results in
modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of
perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced
increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it
occurs, tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to new tasks is rarely found1–10. Here we show, by contrast,
that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a range of
visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in different
aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players as
compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment,
non-players trained on an action video game show marked
improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.
We first used the flanker compatibility effect, a standard experimental paradigm in attentional studies, to determine whether
video-game playing produces an overall increase in attentional
capacity11. This task measures the effect of a to-be-ignored distractor on a target task. The size of this distractor effect has been
proposed to provide an index of ‘left-over’ attentional resources. In
Es. flanker compatibility task
Effetto compatibilità: tempi
di reazione minori nella
condizione di compatibilità
tra target e distrattori
rispetto alla condizione di
incompatibilità à misura
delle risorse attentive.
12
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
letters to nature
Premessa 1
..............................................................
Action video game modifies visual
selective attention
C. Shawn Green & Daphne Bavelier
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University
of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA
.............................................................................................................................................................................
As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in
today’s society, it is worth considering its potential consequences
on perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an
organism to an altered visual environment often results in
modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of
perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced
increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it
occurs, tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to new tasks is rarely found1–10. Here we show, by contrast,
that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a range of
visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in different
aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players as
compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment,
non-players trained on an action video game show marked
improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.
We first used the flanker compatibility effect, a standard experimental paradigm in attentional studies, to determine whether
video-game playing produces an overall increase in attentional
capacity11. This task measures the effect of a to-be-ignored distractor on a target task. The size of this distractor effect has been
proposed to provide an index of ‘left-over’ attentional resources. In
La difficoltà del compito è
stata manipolata variando il
numero di distrattori
presenti nei 6 cerchi
(nessuno, 1, 3 o 5).
Es. flanker compatibility task
12
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
letters to nature
Premessa 1
..............................................................
Action video game modifies visual
selective attention
C. Shawn Green & Daphne Bavelier
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University
of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA
.............................................................................................................................................................................
As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in
today’s society, it is worth considering its potential consequences
on perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an
organism to an altered visual environment often results in
modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of
perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced
increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it
occurs, tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to new tasks is rarely found1–10. Here we show, by contrast,
that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a range of
visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in different
aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players as
compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment,
non-players trained on an action video game show marked
improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.
We first used the flanker compatibility effect, a standard experimental paradigm in attentional studies, to determine whether
video-game playing produces an overall increase in attentional
capacity11. This task measures the effect of a to-be-ignored distractor on a target task. The size of this distractor effect has been
proposed to provide an index of ‘left-over’ attentional resources. In
gure 1 Measure of attentional resources. a, Flanker compatibility task. Participants
L’effetto compatibilità
decresce all’aumentare
della difficoltà del
compito per i NVGP (non
video game player), ma
non per i VGP (video
game player)
12
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
letters to nature
Premessa 1
..............................................................
Action video game modifies visual
selective attention
C. Shawn Green & Daphne Bavelier
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University
of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA
.............................................................................................................................................................................
As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in
today’s society, it is worth considering its potential consequences
on perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an
organism to an altered visual environment often results in
modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of
perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced
increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it
occurs, tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to new tasks is rarely found1–10. Here we show, by contrast,
that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a range of
visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in different
aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players as
compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment,
non-players trained on an action video game show marked
improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.
We first used the flanker compatibility effect, a standard experimental paradigm in attentional studies, to determine whether
video-game playing produces an overall increase in attentional
capacity11. This task measures the effect of a to-be-ignored distractor on a target task. The size of this distractor effect has been
proposed to provide an index of ‘left-over’ attentional resources. In
gure 1 Measure of attentional resources. a, Flanker compatibility task. Participants
Maggiori risorse
attentive nei VGP
12
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
Please cite this article in press as: Franceschini et al., A Causal Link between Visual Spatial Attention and Reading Acquisition,
Current Biology (2012), doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.03.013
Premessa 2
Current Biology 22, 1–6, May 8, 2012 ª2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2012.03.013
Report
A Causal Link between Visual Spatial
Attention and Reading Acquisition
Sandro Franceschini,1,3 Simone Gori,1,2 Milena Ruffino,2
Katia Pedrolli,1 and Andrea Facoetti1,2,3,*
1Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab,
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua,
Padova 35131, Italy
2Developmental Neuropsychology Unit,
Scientific Institute ‘‘E. Medea,’’ Bosisio Parini,
Lecco 23842, Italy
Summary
Reading is a unique, cognitive human skill crucial to life in
modern societies, but, for about 10% of the children, learning
to read is extremely difficult. They are affected by a neurodevelopmental disorder called dyslexia [1, 2]. Although impaired auditory and speech sound processing is widely
assumed to characterize dyslexic individuals [1–5],
emerging evidence suggests that dyslexia could arise from
a more basic cross-modal letter-to-speech sound integration
deficit [6–9]. Letters have to be precisely selected from irrelevant and cluttering letters [10, 11] by rapid orienting of
visual attention before the correct letter-to-speech sound
integration applies [12–17]. Here we ask whether prereading
visual parietal-attention functioning may explain future
reading emergence and development. The present 3 year
longitudinal study shows that prereading attentional orienting—assessed by serial search performance and spatial
cueing facilitation—captures future reading acquisition
skills in grades 1 and 2 after controlling for age, nonverbal
IQ, speech-sound processing, and nonalphabetic crossmodal mapping. Our findings provide the first evidence that
visual spatial attention in preschoolers specifically predicts
The hypothesis that orienting of visual attention is crucial to
the emerging reading abilities [13–17, 27] predicts that future
first grade poor readers already show both poor serial search
and automatic spatial cueing deficit in kindergarten. Independently of any a priori classification of the future reading
disorder, if the parietal visual attentional functioning is a neurocognitive causal factor of reading acquisition, prereading
visual spatial attention skills in T1 should predict, across the
entire sample of children, future reading emergence in grade
1 as well as reading development in grade 2, even if prereaders’ chronological age, nonverbal IQ, speech-sound processing [3–5, 21], and nonalphabetic cross-modal mapping
[6–8, 22, 23] are controlled for.
Prereading Neurocognitive Deficits in Future Poor
Readers: Group Analysis
Based on their standardized score in text reading ability [24],
children at the end of grade 1 (T2) were divided into two
groups. A child was assigned to the poor readers (PR) group
if her/his Z score for averaged fluency and accuracy text
reading was below 1.5 SDs. All children who did not meet
the criterion for inclusion in the PR group were assigned to
the normal readers (NR) group. The two groups thus obtained
counted 14 PR and 68 NR with different skills in text reading.
In order to control the group-selection reliability, we also
analyzed group differences for the other reading and phonological decoding tasks. In grade 1, group differences were
found not only in single word and pseudoword reading but
also in the fluency of letter naming. Letter naming is a crucial
index of letter-to-speech sound integration that has been
found to be impaired in both adults and children with dyslexia
[6–8]. Although letter naming is considered to be one of the
most important predictors of subsequent reading acquisition
L’attenzione visuo-spaziale misurata nei
bambini prescolari predice le future capacità
di lettura.
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi sono utili come training per abilità attentive
nella dislessia.
Please cite this article in press as: Franceschini et al., Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better, Current Biology
(2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.044
Current Biology 23, 1–5, March 18, 2013 ª2013 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.044
Report
Action Video Games Make
Dyslexic Children Read Better
Sandro Franceschini,1,3 Simone Gori,1,2,3 Milena Ruffino,2
Simona Viola,1 Massimo Molteni,2 and Andrea Facoetti1,2,3,*
1Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab,
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua,
Padua 35131, Italy
2Developmental Neuropsychology Unit, Scientific Institute
E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco 23842, Italy
strategies) appears to be the most efficient treatment
[1, 2, 13]. However, all the existing treatments are controversial
and demand high levels of resources. Moreover, the cognitive
processes underlie the improvements in reading ability remain
unclear [1, 4].
Attentional dysfunction is an important core deficit in
dyslexic individuals [6, 9–12, 16–18]. Letters must be precisely
selected from among other cluttering graphemes [19] by rapid
orientation of visual attention [20] before the correct letterto-speech sound integration applies [3–6, 9, 17]. Efficient
attention improves the perception of stimuli [20] and increases
the development of neural connections [21] between letter and
speech sound [4, 5]. An attentional deficit reduces the success
of traditional dyslexia treatments, because learning ability is
hampered by spatial and temporal attention dysfunction.
Thus, treatment of attentional deficits could be crucial in
dyslexia remediation.
Since video game training has been proven to increase
attention abilities [14, 15, 22], we investigated the effects of
video games on children with dyslexia. In contrast to typical
perceptual learning findings in which performance improvement for supra- or subliminal features is strictly stimulus
specific [23, 24], attentional action video game (AVG) training
should produce learning that transfers well beyond the task
domain [22]. It is predicted that AVG training will improve
letter-to-speech sound mapping (phonological decoding)
and, consequently, reading abilities.
To test this hypothesis, we measured the phonological
decoding of pseudowords and word text reading skills in 20
children with dyslexia before (T1) and after (T2) two video
game trainings. Ten dyslexic children were assigned to AVG
and ten to nonaction video game (NAVG) training (see the
Supplemental Experimental Procedures available online).
Chronological age, full intelligence quotient (IQ), reading
severity (measured in speed and errors during reading of
word and pseudoword clinical lists), and phonological skills
20 bambini dislessici di 10 anni assegnati testati con
un action video game o nonaction video game
Summary
Learning to read is extremely difficult for about 10% of children; they are affected by a neurodevelopmental disorder
called dyslexia [1, 2]. The neurocognitive causes of dyslexia
are still hotly debated [3–12]. Dyslexia remediation is far
from being fully achieved [13], and the current treatments
demand high levels of resources [1]. Here, we demonstrate
that only 12 hr of playing action video games—not involving any direct phonological or orthographic training—
drastically improve the reading abilities of children with
dyslexia. We tested reading, phonological, and attentional
skills in two matched groups of children with dyslexia before
and after they played action or nonaction video games for
nine sessions of 80 min per day. We found that only playing
action video games improved children’s reading speed,
without any cost in accuracy, more so than 1 year of spontaneous reading development and more than or equal to highly
demanding traditional reading treatments. Attentional skills
also improved during action video game training. It has been
demonstrated that action video games efficiently improve
attention abilities [14, 15]; our results showed that this attention improvement can directly translate into better reading
abilities, providing a new, fast, fun remediation of dyslexia
that has theoretical relevance in unveiling the causal role
of attention in reading acquisition.
Training di 12 ore – 9 sessioni da 80 minuti
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi sono utili come training per abilità attentive
nella dislessia.
Please cite this article in press as: Franceschini et al., Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better, Current Biology
(2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.044
Current Biology 23, 1–5, March 18, 2013 ª2013 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.044
Report
Action Video Games Make
Dyslexic Children Read Better
Sandro Franceschini,1,3 Simone Gori,1,2,3 Milena Ruffino,2
Simona Viola,1 Massimo Molteni,2 and Andrea Facoetti1,2,3,*
1Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab,
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua,
Padua 35131, Italy
2Developmental Neuropsychology Unit, Scientific Institute
E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco 23842, Italy
Training con action video game:
Summary
Learning to read is extremely difficult for about 10% of children; they are affected by a neurodevelopmental disorder
called dyslexia [1, 2]. The neurocognitive causes of dyslexia
are still hotly debated [3–12]. Dyslexia remediation is far
from being fully achieved [13], and the current treatments
demand high levels of resources [1]. Here, we demonstrate
that only 12 hr of playing action video games—not involving any direct phonological or orthographic training—
drastically improve the reading abilities of children with
dyslexia. We tested reading, phonological, and attentional
skills in two matched groups of children with dyslexia before
and after they played action or nonaction video games for
nine sessions of 80 min per day. We found that only playing
action video games improved children’s reading speed,
without any cost in accuracy, more so than 1 year of spontaneous reading development and more than or equal to highly
demanding traditional reading treatments. Attentional skills
also improved during action video game training. It has been
demonstrated that action video games efficiently improve
attention abilities [14, 15]; our results showed that this attention improvement can directly translate into better reading
abilities, providing a new, fast, fun remediation of dyslexia
that has theoretical relevance in unveiling the causal role
of attention in reading acquisition.
strategies) appears to be the most efficient treatment
[1, 2, 13]. However, all the existing treatments are controversial
and demand high levels of resources. Moreover, the cognitive
processes underlie the improvements in reading ability remain
unclear [1, 4].
Attentional dysfunction is an important core deficit in
dyslexic individuals [6, 9–12, 16–18]. Letters must be precisely
selected from among other cluttering graphemes [19] by rapid
orientation of visual attention [20] before the correct letterto-speech sound integration applies [3–6, 9, 17]. Efficient
attention improves the perception of stimuli [20] and increases
the development of neural connections [21] between letter and
speech sound [4, 5]. An attentional deficit reduces the success
of traditional dyslexia treatments, because learning ability is
hampered by spatial and temporal attention dysfunction.
Thus, treatment of attentional deficits could be crucial in
dyslexia remediation.
Since video game training has been proven to increase
attention abilities [14, 15, 22], we investigated the effects of
video games on children with dyslexia. In contrast to typical
perceptual learning findings in which performance improvement for supra- or subliminal features is strictly stimulus
specific [23, 24], attentional action video game (AVG) training
should produce learning that transfers well beyond the task
domain [22]. It is predicted that AVG training will improve
letter-to-speech sound mapping (phonological decoding)
and, consequently, reading abilities.
To test this hypothesis, we measured the phonological
decoding of pseudowords and word text reading skills in 20
children with dyslexia before (T1) and after (T2) two video
game trainings. Ten dyslexic children were assigned to AVG
and ten to nonaction video game (NAVG) training (see the
Supplemental Experimental Procedures available online).
Chronological age, full intelligence quotient (IQ), reading
severity (measured in speed and errors during reading of
word and pseudoword clinical lists), and phonological skills
- migliora abilità attentive (attenzione
spaziale e temporale).
- migliora abilità di lettura (velocità e
accuratezza).
Please cite this article in press as: Franceschini et al., Action Video Games Ma
(2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.044
EFFETTI
POSITIVI
dei
videogiochi
Current Biology Vol 23 No 6
4
I videogiochi sono utili come training per abilità attentive
nella dislessia.
A
improvemen
enhanceme
ance of read
Table S6), d
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22, 25] and
Discussion
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i due SOA 50 ms e
100 ms) diventa più
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EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi sono utili come training per abilità attentive
nella dislessia.
B
C
Es. sistema di
allerta (differenza tra
Figure 3. Crossmodal Temporal Attention Task and Results
i due SOA 50 msAneauditory spatial-temporal cue was presented in the left, right, or bot
placed on either side of the screen. A dog appearing in on
100 ms) diventa loudspeakers
più
of the two circles was the target stimulus. Children had to press one o
efficiente in AVG
two buttons on the keyboard to indicate whether the target appeared i
the left or the right circle (A). Crossmodal temporal attention improvement
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi sono utili per favorire e sostenere
l’apprendimento.
Si diffonde nell’ultimo decennio la ricerca
e la sperimentazione sul DGBL
(Digital Game-Based Learning)
Utilizzo dei videogiochi digitali con obiettivi educativi.
Il videogioco diventa uno strumento che potenzia e
sostiene i processi di apprendimento.
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
I videogiochi sono utili per favorire e sostenere
l’apprendimento.
Esempio di DGBL
Tipo di gioco
Azione
Esempi di gioco
Valore educativo
Violenti: Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Pianificazione delle risorse, abilità
Battlefield, Tomb Rider, 1942; America’s spaziali e immersione.
Army, Brothers in Arms, Gears of War,
Callout 3.
Non violenti: Mirrors Edge, Super Mario
Bros, Re Mission, Need for Speed, Mario
Galaxy, Pac Man, Asteroids.
Gioco di ruolo
Fable, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Cooperazione e gestione delle
Neverwinter Nights, The Elder Scrolls, risorse.
Pensiero
strategico
Baldur's Gate.
problem solving
Avventura
Braid, Portal; Monkey Island, Maniac Raccontare storie / incoraggiare
Mansion, Zelda; Indigo Prophecy, Heavy l’esplorazione, il problem solving e
Rain; King’s Quest; Spyro, Callout 3.
la creazione di legami tra diversi
concetti
Civilization, Lemmings, Starcraft 2, Supreme Problem solving / pianificazione /
Bros, Re Mission, Need for Speed, Mario
Galaxy, Pac Man, Asteroids.
EFFETTI POSITIVI dei videogiochi
Fable, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Cooperazione e gestione delle
Neverwinter Nights, The Elder Scrolls, risorse.
Pensiero
strategico
Baldur's Gate.
problem solving
Gioco di ruolo
I videogiochi
sono utili per favorire e sostenere
l’apprendimento.
Braid, Portal; Monkey Island, Maniac Raccontare storie /
Avventura
incoraggiare
Mansion, Zelda; Indigo Prophecy, Heavy l’esplorazione, il problem solving e
Rain; King’s Quest; Spyro, Callout 3.
la creazione di legami tra diversi
concetti
Strategia
Civilization, Lemmings, Starcraft 2, Supreme Problem solving / pianificazione /
Commander, Age of Empires, Dune II, comprendione di regole complesse
Warcraft, Command and Conquer.
/ ricreare eventi storici
Esempio di DGBL
The Sims, Sim City, Angry Birds,
Simulazione
.
Vivere in mondi virtuali /
esplorazione e riscontro teorico /
osservazione delle interazioni e dei
loro risultati sull’ambiente
Fifa Soccer Saga, Pro Evolution Soccer, NBA Gioco di squadra, esercizio sportivo
/ coordinazione mano – occhi e
Combattimento Live, Tekken (saga), Street Fighter (saga).
sviluppo dei riflessi
e Sport
In generale, si può affermare che le influenze dei
videogiochi sullo sviluppo psicologico dipendono da
molteplici fattori:
- Quali videogiochi vengono usati e per quale fine.
- La quantità di tempo che bambini e adolescenti vi
dedicano.
- I contesti della fruizione (casa, scuola, locali
esterni).
- Le interazioni con tutti gli altri fattori socioculturali
(per es. il livello culturale della famiglia).
- Fattori come l’età e lo sviluppo cognitivo di chi li
usa.