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Gaming enhances learning-induced plastic changes in the brain

  • University of Helsinki
    ,
  • Tampere University
    ,
  • Aalto University
    ,
  • University of Wolverhampton
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

Digital games may benefit children's learning, yet the factors that induce gaming benefits to cognition are not well known. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of digital game-based learning in children by comparing the learning of foreign speech sounds and words in a digital game or a non-game digital application. To evaluate gaming-induced plastic changes in the brain, we used the mismatch negativity (MMN) brain response that reflects the access to long-term memory representations. We recorded auditory brain responses from 37 school-aged Finnish-speaking children before and after playing a computer-based language-learning game. The MMN amplitude increased between the pre- and post-measurement for the game condition but not for the non-game condition, suggesting that the gaming intervention enhanced learning more than the non-game intervention. The results indicate that digital games can be beneficial for children's speech-sound learning and that gaming elements per se, not just practice time, support learning.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Article number

105124

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 105124

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Brain and Language (Volume 230, Issue July 2022)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 08/04/2022
  • Published - 26/04/2022

Publication status

Published - 26/04/2022

ISSN

0093-934X

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/625395
  • Scopus: 85130145713

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