A study published in Npj Science of Learning found that preschoolers at risk for developmental dyslexia showed significant improvement in phonemic awareness after playing “Space Invaders Extreme 2.” The research was conducted by Sara Bertoni and her team, and it involved 120 children aged 5–6 at the Scientific Institute, IRCCS “Eugenio Medea” in Italy.
The children in the study played for 45 minutes a day, four times a week, for over 1.5 months. This group outperformed those who received speech therapy and those who played equally intense but non-action games, with benefits persisting six months later.
The study highlighted that action video games create an enriching environment that enhances learning and neural plasticity. The researchers focused on three predictors of reading development: phonemic awareness, phonological working memory, and rapid naming, all of which are typically deficient in children with dyslexia.
The researchers stated, “According to these findings, AVG could be leveraged for preventing multisensory processing difficulties in several neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by an early dysfunction of attentional deployment, such as dyslexia, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, developmental coordination disorder, and autism spectrum disorder, as well as in typically developing children.”
Picture: Space Invaders Extreme 2 by DeevDaRabbit on DeviantArt
