Intervenção com exergames

Abstract

Because of its interface, the practice of exergames includes motor skills that involve a wide range of sensory feedback, adjustable range of motion, speed and accuracy levels, as well as a variety of cognitive and motor tasks. Thus, the association of the use of exergames with cognitive issues has been verified. This is an experimental study with intervention with a prospective longitudinal follow-up period of two months, controlled and double-blind. 64 school children between 8 and 10 years old were randomly assigned to an experimental (n = 25) and control group (n = 23). The experimental group, always monitored by two researchers, experienced a protocol consisting of exergames in 18 sessions of 20 and 30 minutes, replacing some curricular physical education classes. In the pre and post-tests a socio-demographic questionnaire was used, the Test of Concentrated Attention d2, Trail Making Test and the institutional school performance. Intervention, in general, did not influence the cognitive variables evaluated in the two homogeneous groups; however, age-sex interactions were found for the variable executive function related to cognitive flexibility, indicating a positive effect of the intervention for boys with age of 10 years.