An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability

Previous studies have found that block play, board games and puzzles result in better spatial ability. This study focused on examining the differential impact of structured block play and board games on spatial processing. Two groups of eight year olds were studied. One group participated in a fi...

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Main Authors: Sharlene D. Newman, Mitchell Thomas Hansen, Arianna Gutierrez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01278/full
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spelling doaj-8a8db5fa84d64ed98a4fe06c731faabd2020-11-24T23:18:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782016-08-01710.3389/fpsyg.2016.01278207081An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial abilitySharlene D. Newman0Mitchell Thomas Hansen1Arianna Gutierrez2Indiana UniversityIndiana UniversityIndiana UniversityPrevious studies have found that block play, board games and puzzles result in better spatial ability. This study focused on examining the differential impact of structured block play and board games on spatial processing. Two groups of eight year olds were studied. One group participated in a five session block play training paradigm and the second group had a similar training protocol but played a word/spelling board game. A mental rotation task was assessed before and after training. The mental rotation task was performed during fMRI to observe the neural changes associated with the two play protocols. Only the block play group showed effects of training for both behavioral measures and fMRI measured brain activation. Behaviorally, the block play group showed improvements in both reaction time and accuracy. Additionally, the block play group showed increased involvement of regions that have been linked to spatial working memory and spatial processing after training. The board game group showed non-significant improvements in mental rotation performance, likely related to practice effects, and no training related brain activation differences. While the current study is preliminary, it does suggest that different spatial play activities have differential impacts on spatial processing with structured block play but not board games showing a significant impact on mental rotation performance.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01278/fullfMRImental rotationspatial processingGame playBlock building
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sharlene D. Newman
Mitchell Thomas Hansen
Arianna Gutierrez
spellingShingle Sharlene D. Newman
Mitchell Thomas Hansen
Arianna Gutierrez
An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability
Frontiers in Psychology
fMRI
mental rotation
spatial processing
Game play
Block building
author_facet Sharlene D. Newman
Mitchell Thomas Hansen
Arianna Gutierrez
author_sort Sharlene D. Newman
title An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability
title_short An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability
title_full An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability
title_fullStr An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability
title_full_unstemmed An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability
title_sort fmri study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Psychology
issn 1664-1078
publishDate 2016-08-01
description Previous studies have found that block play, board games and puzzles result in better spatial ability. This study focused on examining the differential impact of structured block play and board games on spatial processing. Two groups of eight year olds were studied. One group participated in a five session block play training paradigm and the second group had a similar training protocol but played a word/spelling board game. A mental rotation task was assessed before and after training. The mental rotation task was performed during fMRI to observe the neural changes associated with the two play protocols. Only the block play group showed effects of training for both behavioral measures and fMRI measured brain activation. Behaviorally, the block play group showed improvements in both reaction time and accuracy. Additionally, the block play group showed increased involvement of regions that have been linked to spatial working memory and spatial processing after training. The board game group showed non-significant improvements in mental rotation performance, likely related to practice effects, and no training related brain activation differences. While the current study is preliminary, it does suggest that different spatial play activities have differential impacts on spatial processing with structured block play but not board games showing a significant impact on mental rotation performance.
topic fMRI
mental rotation
spatial processing
Game play
Block building
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01278/full
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