Effects of Physical Exercise and Virtual Training on Visual Attention Levels in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Chaoxin Ji,Jun Yang

doi:10.3390/brainsci12010041

Abstract

This study compared the effects of physical exercise (PE) and virtual training (VT) on the improvement of the visual attention mechanism in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). One hundred eighty-nine children with ASD were recruited from Orphan School in Liaoning Province, China. After screening, 100 children ultimately participated in the experiment. Children with ASD were randomly assigned to VT (VT, n = 34), PE (PE, n = 33) and control group (CG, n = 33). The VT group experiment was performed in a virtual environment through the game FIFA21 three times per week for 6 weeks. The PE group played physical football matches three times per week for 6 weeks. Children with ASD in the CG group did not receive VT or PE but only received psychological counseling. Visual attention of children with ASD is evaluated by using the multiple object tracking paradigm (MOT). After 6 weeks of observation, although none of the three groups saw improvements in the correct rate of ring tracking, the observations of the VT and PE groups were significant (p < 0.05) compared to the CG group in finding detection rate of probe stimulus. Through MOT tests, VT and PE improved the detection rate of probe stimulus in children with ASD. Therefore, this paper indicates that VT and PE can improve the visual attention ability of children with ASD.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder
The virtual training (VT) group had a higher recognition ability than the physical exercise (PE) group when detecting the location of stimulus, which needs to be discussed in the test results
We found that children with ASD can effectively improve the detection rate of probe stimulus, which shows that the visual attention of children with ASD was improved after training

Summary

Introduction

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacological treatment [1] are the most applied treatment schemes for ASD. The current research mainly focuses on and applies personalized schemes with minimal side effects to treat ASD. Individuals with ASD have obstacles in social and verbal communication and expansibility of thinking, accompanied by typical characteristics of restrictive interests and behaviors [2]. When ASD individuals are absorbed in their restricted interests, it is difficult to divert their attention to other objects. Some current intervention studies show that individuals with ASD may have different visual attention patterns for restricted-interest stimulation [4]. Classen suggested that adding pictures of restrictive-interest stimulation to teaching materials in the teaching process can significantly improve the attention level of children with ASD on learning materials, as well as learning effects [5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion