Moya-Higueras Jorge, Solé-Puiggené Marina, Vita-Barrull Nuria, Estrada-Plana Verónica, Guzmán Núria, Arias Sara, Garcia Xesca, Ayesa-Arriola Rosa, March-Llanes Jaume
Department of Psychology, Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work, University of Lleida, 25001 Lleida, Spain.
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain.
Children (Basel). 2023 Aug 31;10(9):1492. doi: 10.3390/children10091492.
Modern board and card games are usually used for leisure. Few studies have focused on the type of game played in vulnerable populations. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of playing modern board and card games to enhance updating, inhibition, and flexibility in children at risk of social exclusion using games that activated specific basic executive functions. We developed a quadruple-blind randomized clinical trial during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixty-eight participants (7-12 years old) were divided into two experimental groups: 35 children played games that directly activated basic executive functions, and 33 played games that directly triggered other cognitive domains. The primary statistical analysis consisted of mixed models. We found significant time effects in cognitive flexibility and inhibition and, to a lesser extent, in working memory in both gaming groups. We analyzed the cognitive profile of the games and found that all the games activated basic executive functions significantly, irrespective of the experimental group. Therefore, it is possible that playing any type of modern board and card game (excluding games with a high incidence of luck) could be beneficial for children at risk of social exclusion.
现代桌游和纸牌游戏通常用于休闲娱乐。很少有研究关注弱势群体所玩游戏的类型。因此，本研究的主要目的是通过激活特定基本执行功能的游戏，测试玩现代桌游和纸牌游戏对增强有社会排斥风险儿童的更新、抑制和灵活性的有效性。在新冠疫情期间，我们开展了一项四盲随机临床试验。68名参与者（7至12岁）被分为两个实验组：35名儿童玩直接激活基本执行功能的游戏，33名儿童玩直接触发其他认知领域的游戏。主要统计分析采用混合模型。我们发现，两个游戏组在认知灵活性和抑制方面均有显著的时间效应，在工作记忆方面的效应较小。我们分析了游戏的认知特征，发现所有游戏均能显著激活基本执行功能，与实验组无关。因此，玩任何类型的现代桌游和纸牌游戏（不包括运气成分高的游戏）可能对有社会排斥风险的儿童有益。
