Accepted Articles
Back to the articles list |
Back to browse issues page
1- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Sports Sciences, Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract:
Background: This study looked at the effects of combined transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and exergaming therapy on balance and cognitive flexibility in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental randomized controlled trial study was undertaken with 30 children aged 7-10 years, who were randomly allocated to either an experimental group (n=15) getting active tDCS (1.5 mA over the left DLPFC) + Kinect-based exergaming or a control group (n=15) receiving sham tDCS with exergaming. The 4-week intervention (3 sessions per week) was preceded and followed by extensive evaluations with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST).
Results: ANCOVA findings showed significant between-group differences favoring the experimental group for static balance (F= 9.537, p < .001, partial η² = 0.128) and dynamic balance (F= 7.510, p < .001, partial η² = 0.158), with medium-to-large effect sizes. The results showed that the combined tDCS and exergym intervention had a stronger effect on improving cognitive flexibility than exergym alone. This improvement was associated with a significant increase in correct and conceptual responses and a decrease in repetitive errors in the combined group (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The work fills a key gap in neurorehabilitation research by presenting empirical data for combined neuromodulation and digital-motor therapies in ASD. The findings encourage the creation of tailored protocols that target both cognitive and motor networks concurrently. Future studies should look at long-term maintenance effects and the brain processes that underpin these synergistic advantages. This integrated strategy has promise for improving motor learning and functional results in children with neurodevelopmental problems.
Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental randomized controlled trial study was undertaken with 30 children aged 7-10 years, who were randomly allocated to either an experimental group (n=15) getting active tDCS (1.5 mA over the left DLPFC) + Kinect-based exergaming or a control group (n=15) receiving sham tDCS with exergaming. The 4-week intervention (3 sessions per week) was preceded and followed by extensive evaluations with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST).
Results: ANCOVA findings showed significant between-group differences favoring the experimental group for static balance (F= 9.537, p < .001, partial η² = 0.128) and dynamic balance (F= 7.510, p < .001, partial η² = 0.158), with medium-to-large effect sizes. The results showed that the combined tDCS and exergym intervention had a stronger effect on improving cognitive flexibility than exergym alone. This improvement was associated with a significant increase in correct and conceptual responses and a decrease in repetitive errors in the combined group (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The work fills a key gap in neurorehabilitation research by presenting empirical data for combined neuromodulation and digital-motor therapies in ASD. The findings encourage the creation of tailored protocols that target both cognitive and motor networks concurrently. Future studies should look at long-term maintenance effects and the brain processes that underpin these synergistic advantages. This integrated strategy has promise for improving motor learning and functional results in children with neurodevelopmental problems.
Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, Cognitive flexibility, Exergaming, Motor learning, Neurorehabilitation, Transcranial direct current stimulation
Type of Study: Original |
Subject:
Cognitive Neuroscience
Received: 2025/09/16 | Accepted: 2025/11/15
Received: 2025/09/16 | Accepted: 2025/11/15
Send email to the article author
| Rights and permissions | |
 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
Copyright © The Author(s);
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-By-NC), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Contact Information
