The effectiveness of a set of Neuroland Digital minigames, on enhancing visual memory and reducing spelling errors in students with writing problems: a pilot study

Abstract

Visual memory weakness is one of the most important cognitive deficits in students with writing problems. In this study, the effects of digital games on reducing spelling errors via visual memory enhancement were investigated. The study was done on second-grade primary school students. Games used for this study have been chosen from Neuroland1 digital games.The study was quasi-experimental (pre-test and post-test) with two experimental and control groups. The statistical population consisted of 48-second grade primary school students of age 8 (24 girls and 24 boys) from three schools in district 6 of Tehran province during the 2019 academic year. The participants were randomly selected and placed in two experimental and control groups (24 students in each one).The experimental group received a set of Neuroland digital games effective in enhancing visual memory, while the control group did not receive any intervention.The research intervention, that consisted of 10 digital games from the Visual Memory section of Neuroland, played by the experimental group during 3 sessions per week and for 45 minutes per session. The whole study continued for 1 month. Wechsler memory subscale, Benton test, and textual dictation (23 Words containing homonym letters.) were used as assessment methods in pre-test and post-test.Data analysis was done by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) using SPSS. F ratio (P<0.001) of the post-test of the experimental and control group showed a statistical difference in the Wechsler sub-test, dictation error, and Benton. The results showed that the introduced digital games were significantly effective in enhancing visual memory and writing skills in second-grade primary school students.