Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Jun 20, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 20, 2022 - Aug 15, 2022
Date Accepted: Mar 29, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
The Effects of Exergame on Attention in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ABSTRACT
Background:
Despite growing evidence showing the effects of exercise and cognitive trainings on enhancing attention, little is known about the combined effects of Exergame on attention in children with ADHD. Exergame, a form of exercise using videogame, has both cognitive stimulation and physical activity components and has shown to improve cognitive function in children.
Objective:
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Exergame on attention and to compare the effect induced by Exergame with the effect of aerobic exercise on attention in children with ADHD.
Methods:
Thirty children with ADHD, aged between 8 and 12 years old, were randomly divided into an Exergame group (EXG, n=16) or a bicycle exercise group (BEG, n=14). Before and after the 4-week intervention, the Frankfurter Aufmerksamkeits-Inventar (FAIR) test was administrated and event-related potentials (ERP) during the Go/No-go task was measured to assess attention.
Results:
After intervention, both EXG and BEG significantly increased selective attention and continuous attention, and self-control on the FAIR test. Similarly, both EXG and BEG significantly reduced RT on the Go/No-go test. To the Go response, the N2 amplitude was significantly increased in Fz in EXG, but not changed in BEG. Importantly, the N2 amplitude in Fz was significantly greater in the EXG compared to BEG.
Conclusions:
Exergame has the comparable effects to cycling exercise to enhance attention in children with ADHD, suggesting that Exergaming can be used as an alternative treatment for children with ADHD.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.