Psychological Science ›› 2015, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 1109-1115.

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Games Training Improves Self-control Ability in Preschool Children: Evidences from ERP

  

  • Received:2014-11-14 Revised:2015-06-28 Online:2015-09-20 Published:2015-09-20

游戏训练提高幼儿自我控制能力:来自ERP的证据

孙岩1,金芳2,何明影1,沈悦1,杨丽珠1   

  1. 1. 辽宁师范大学
    2.
  • 通讯作者: 杨丽珠

Abstract: Self-control is to control impulses, resist temptations and avoid interference from irrelevant something. Early childhood is a period of rapid development in self-control. And self-control on early childhood can predict the performance of adolescence and adulthood, so there is considerable interest in the early interventions of self-control. Several studies have reported that self-control ability can be improved by educational games, but seldom demonstrated neurophysiological changes in preschool children in response to games training related with self-control. The present study used educational games to train preschool children's self-control ability, and used ERPs to examine the neurophysiological effect of games training. Fifty preschool children from kindergarten (25 males; mean age: 4.04) were randomly assigned in terms of classes to either the training group (to-be-trained) or the control (untrained) group. The training group (13 males; mean age: 3.92) receives game training of a semester. Control group (12 males; mean age: 4.16) is free when training group is training. The training program includes six self-designed educational games for improving self-control. And all participants completed tests before and after training. Test program is a visual Go/NoGo task that stimulating pictures consist of mouse pictures with white eyes or red eyes, and EEG is recorded. Electrophysiological data are collected from the scalp using a 64-channel system. These data are submitted to repeated-measure analysis of variance (MANOVA) with factors of Session (before and after training), Group (Untrained and Trained)and electrode site (Fc3, Fcz, Fc4 or P3, Pz, P4). The electrode site includes Fc3, Fcz, Fc4 when N2 is examined. The electrode site includes P3, Pz, P4 when P3 is examined. For the behavioral data of the Go/NoGo task, under the condition of NoGo, subjects do not need any respond. Therefore, there is no reaction time. On accuracy, the results of MANOVA showed that the difference of main effect is significant between before and after training. The accuracy is improved compared with before training. However, there is no significant difference in main effects between training and control groups. And there is also no significant difference in interaction effect between group and session. In addition, ERP data of the Go/NoGo task showed significant difference in amplitude between the training group and control group for the before and after training. After training, the amplitudes of NoGo-N2 components in 330-550ms and NoGo-P3 components in 570-650ms were smaller than before training for the training group, but no difference was found in control group. In addition, the amplitudes of the N2 and P3 are related with self-control, which is demonstrated in the references. Meanwhile, the results of ANOVA indicated that there was no significant difference between two groups before training, which demonstrated self-control ability of two groups were consistent before training. The present study is the first to examine the neurophysiological effect of games training, and provides further evidence for the effects of games training on self-control skill. Preschool teacher may apply game activities to the daily teaching, to promote the development of preschool children's self-control.

Key words: game, self-control, ERP, Go/NoGo, N2, P3

摘要: 游戏是激发幼儿兴趣的有效载体,已有研究表明游戏可以提高幼儿自我控制的外显行为表现,但未考察是否能够引起幼儿自我控制相关的电生理变化。本研究将幼儿按班级随机分为实验组和对照组,实验组的幼儿接受一学期的教育游戏训练,对照组不参加训练,进行自由活动,训练前后所有幼儿完成Go/NoGo任务的ERP测试,评定自我控制能力。结果发现:实验组后测中NoGo任务的N2和P3成分(分别表示为NoGo-N2和NoGo-P3)平均波幅均显著小于前测,而对照组前后测波幅无变化;同时,后测实验组中NoGo-N2平均波幅显著小于对照组。结果表明,游戏训练可促进幼儿自我控制相关大脑系统的发展,为自我控制游戏训练的效果提供了电生理证据。

关键词: 游戏, 自我控制, ERP, Go/NoGo, N2, P3