The Long and Winding Road to Real-Life Experiments: Remote Assessment of Executive Functions with Computerized Games—Results from 8 Years of Naturalistic Interventions

Author:

Vladisauskas Melina12ORCID,Paz Gabriel12,Nin Verónica3ORCID,Guillén Jesús4,Belloli Laouen25ORCID,Delgado Hernán3ORCID,Miguel Martín25,Macario Cabral Daniela15,Shalom Diego67,Forés Anna4,Carboni Alejandra3,Fernández-Slezak Diego25,Goldin Andrea12ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Laboratorio de Neurociencia, Universidad Torcuato di Tella, Buenos Aires C1428BCW, Argentina

2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, Buenos Aires C1425FQD, Argentina

3. Centro de Investigación Básica en Psicología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11200, Uruguay

4. Càtedra de Neuroeducació UB-EDU1st, Universitat de Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain

5. Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Instituto de Ciencias de la Computación, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina

6. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Física, Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina

7. CONICET—Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Física Interdisciplinaria y Aplicada (INFINA), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina

Abstract

Mate Marote is an open-access cognitive training software aimed at children between 4 and 8 years old. It consists of a set of computerized games specifically tailored to train and evaluate Executive Functions (EF), a class of processes critical for purposeful, goal-directed behavior, including working memory, planning, flexibility, and inhibitory control. Since 2008, several studies were performed with this software at children’s own schools in interventions supervised in-person by cognitive scientists. After 2015, we incorporated naturalistic, yet controlled, interventions with children’s own teachers’ help. The platform includes a battery of standardized tests, disguised as games, to assess children’s EF. The main question that emerges is whether the results, obtained with these traditional tasks but conducted without the presence of researchers, are comparable to those widely reported in the literature, that were obtained in more supervised settings. In this study, we were able to replicate the expected difficulty and age effects in at least one of the analyzed dependent variables of each employed test. We also report important discrepancies between the expected and the observed response time patterns, specifically for time-constrained tasks. We hereby discuss the benefits and setbacks of a new possible strategy for this type of assessment in naturalistic settings. We conclude that this battery of established EF tasks adapted for its remote usage is appropriate to measure the expected mental processes in naturalistic settings, enriching opportunities to upscale cognitive training interventions at schools. These types of tools can constitute a concerted strategy to bring together educational neuroscience research and real-life practice.

Funder

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Comisión Académica de Posgrado, UdelaR

Agencia Nacional de Investigación científica

Intel Argentina

CONICET

Publisher

MDPI AG

Reference45 articles.

1. Mate Marote: Videojuegos para Estimular el Desarrollo de Procesos Cognitivos;Nin;IEEE-RITA,2019

2. Belloli, L., Miguel, M.A., Goldin, A.P., and Slezak, D.F. (2016). Mate Marote: A BigData platform for massive scale educational interventions. AGRANDA, 107–114. Available online: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/301072908.pdf.

3. Far transfer to language and math of a short software-based gaming intervention;Goldin;Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,2014

4. A Classroom-Embedded Video Game Intervention Improves Executive Functions in Kindergarteners;Nin;J. Cogn. Enhanc.,2023

5. Poverty and Puberty: A Neurocognitive Study of Inhibitory Control in the Transition to Adolescence;Li;Psychol. Sci.,2019

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3