Abstract
Intellectual disability (ID) compromises intellectual and adaptive functioning. People with an ID show difficulty with procedural skills, with loss of autonomy in daily life. From an embodiment perspective, observation of action promotes motor skill learning. Among promising technologies, virtual reality (VR) offers the possibility of engaging the sensorimotor system, thus, improving cognitive functions and adaptive capacities. Indeed, VR can be used as sensorimotor feedback, which enhances procedural learning. In the present study, fourteen subjects with an ID underwent progressive steps training combined with VR aimed at learning gardening procedures. All participants were trained twice a week for fourteen weeks (total 28 sessions). Participants were first recorded while sowing zucchini, then they were asked to observe a virtual video which showed the correct procedure. Next, they were presented with their previous recordings, and they were asked to pay attention and to comment on the errors made. At the end of the treatment, the results showed that all participants were able to correctly garden in a real environment. Interestingly, action observation facilitated, not only procedural skills, but also specific cognitive abilities. This evidence emphasizes, for the first time, that action observation combined with VR improves procedural learning in ID.
Highlights
Intellectual disability (ID) compromises intellectual and adaptive functioning [1]
Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) The analysis showed a significant effect of TIME (F(1,11) = 6.60, p = 0.03, η2 = 0.40)
The present study investigated the efficacy of a video-based action observation treatment projected using a semi-immersive virtual reality (VR) environment for enhancing the gardening skills in fourteen people with different severities of ID
Summary
Intellectual disability (ID) compromises intellectual and adaptive functioning [1]. It is a clinical condition which appears in the early stages of development, typically in the preschool phase [2].The etiology can be dependent on multicausal risk factors [3], classified as genetic or acquired causes [4,5]. Genetic factors include chromosomal or hereditary disorders [4,6], whereas non-genetic causes include prenatal (chromosomal disease, congenital errors of metabolism, brain malformations, and maternal disease), perinatal (events related to labor or delivery leading to neonatal encephalopathy), and postnatal factors (hypoxia, infection, brain injuries, convulsive disorders, toxic-metabolic intoxication) [3,7,8]. Overcoming this extreme variability, all these factors increase the risk of neurological disorder [9,10]. They contribute to damage to the central nervous system, interfering with ongoing developmental cascades [11]
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