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Improving cognitive abilities through gestural interaction

Abstract:

The psychology of learning and the neurosciences sustain an ongoing effort in the study of memory in order to facilitate teaching-learning processes. Special attention goes to Working Memory (WM), the conscious, short-term system where learning originates. Persons with cognitive deficiency, for example with Down Syndrome, present limiting conditions in phonological and visuospatial WM, with the latter being less affected. Gamified, digital learning resources, in a gestural interaction environment between human and computer, are proposed for stimulating new learning. We use a quasi-experimental methodology to measure the memory factor in image and text resources, both in a single class lesson and between lessons (∆t=1 wk.), in a population of three students (8 < cognitive age < 12) selected by their regular classroom teachers with the aim of a balanced sample. A lesson plan was personalized for each student, with 3 or 4 work sessions in a row, each lasting 6-12 minutes, and adapted to the computerized gestural interaction platform Tango:H. This lesson plan was repeated for 3 weeks with no changes in the learning resources or strategies. Results show a significant variation in recall between lessons, with a 99.95% confidence level; 100% recall was attained in 33% of the cases. There was no distinction between image- or text-based learning resources in terms of the recall factor; no significant difference in learning outcomes was found between different resource types.