Abstract
ABSTRACT: Reading is essential for educational and social participation yet learning to read is particularly difficult for children with developmental dyslexia. Dyslexia is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder associated with phonological difficulties and with possible impairments in visual-attentional and sensorimotor mechanisms involved in letter processing and letter-speech sound integration. The PRIN 2022 project “HOW DO ATTENTIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS IMPROVE READING SKILLS?” aims to clarify the sensorimotor and visual-attentional mechanisms underlying reading improvements induced by different training programmes. The project compared phonological training, visual-attentional training based on action video games, and a novel video-game training based on Multiple-Object Collision Avoidance. Training effects were assessed through reading, psychophysical and oculomotor tasks, with the aim of identifying conditions that can enhance reading acquisition in children with dyslexia.
Results achieved
The project allowed the collection and analysis of longitudinal data from children with developmental dyslexia, assessed before and after training and, for part of the sample, also at follow-up. The preliminary analyses currently available mainly concern the comparison between traditional phonological training and action video game training; additional components, including the assessment of Multiple-Object Collision Avoidance training and the full integration with oculomotor measures, are still being completed and analyzed. Phonological training did not produce significant effects on reading efficiency in the analyzed sample, in line with evidence suggesting stronger effects on accuracy, especially in opaque orthographies. In contrast, action video game training produced statistically and clinically relevant improvements in phonological decoding, especially in pseudoword text reading, a condition requiring the processing of new material within a continuous and visually complex spatial configuration. Approximately two months after training, children in the action video game group continued to show benefits in phonological decoding and also improved in lexical reading, suggesting a possible progressive consolidation of mechanisms involved in visual and phonological signal processing. The psychophysical component of the Bologna unit investigated the perceptual mechanisms associated with these changes, focusing on motion perception and the Equivalent Noise paradigm. This approach estimates internal noise, related to the precision of local signal encoding, and sampling efficiency, related to the ability to integrate visual information in the presence of external noise. In children from the action video game group with complete pre-training, post-training and follow-up data, preliminary analyses showed increased sampling efficiency after training, still above baseline at follow-up, without clear and robust evidence for reduced internal noise. These findings suggest that action video game training may mainly affect mechanisms of global visual integration and the ability to tolerate external noise, rather than producing a generalized reduction in internal noise. This interpretation is consistent with the improvement observed in pseudoword text reading, which requires sequential, distributed and visuospatially organized processing of new stimuli. Data from the phonological training group in the Equivalent Noise tasks are currently too limited for reliable inferential comparisons and will be considered descriptively until further complete measurements are available. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that domain-general visual-attentional trainings, such as action video games, may improve reading in children with dyslexia by strengthening perceptual integration mechanisms and attentional resource allocation. Ongoing analyses will integrate reading, psychophysical and oculomotor measures and examine the relationship between perceptual changes and individual reading improvements. The PRIN 2022 programme contributes to clarifying the neurocognitive mechanisms of dyslexia and to identifying new intervention strategies based on attentional and sensorimotor training.Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Andrea Pavan
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari"
Coordinatore:
Università degli Studi di Bergamo(Italy)
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 39.600,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 28
Data di inizio
05/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
