action video game training in children with dyslexia

The action video game (AVG) used will be the app 'Fruit Ninja'. This game requires participants to 'slice' as many fruit as possible. The idea is to increase the speed and accuracy of spatial and temporal attentional shifting.The Fruit Ninja app was selected on the basis that it follows the checklist developed by Green, Li, and Bavelier (2010) as having all four qualitative features of an AVG - 1) having extraordinary speed in terms of transient events and velocity of moving objects; 2) a high degree of perceptual, cognitive, and motor load with an accurate motor plan; 3) spatial and temporal unpredictability; 4) emphasis on peripheral processing. There will be two AVG treatment groups. Adapted (eye-movement-controlled) and un-manipulated versions of the Fruit Ninja app will be utilized as the two AVG training protocols. In the un-manipulated version, participants use a computer mouse to 'slice' the fruit by moving the mouse across the fruit. In the adapted version, participants will be required to use their eye movements (monitored by the Gaze Point eye-tracker) to 'slice' the fruit by making saccades across the fruit. Individual games vary in length depending on the mini-game being played, and how successful the participant is in avoiding the 'bombs' and slicing all fruit. In the eye-movement-controlled version, conceptually and ecologically, the task performance should also be greatly reliant on fast efficient eye-movements. Children will be trained in small groups (3-4 children per group) at schools for 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week, for 2 weeks. Training will be overseen and administered by a psychologist with assistance from postgraduate research students.