Mohammadreza Doustan; Leila Farzad; Esmaeel Saemi; Maliheh Niknam
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of handedness and task difficulty on effective target width and temporal accuracy of the Fitts’ speed-accuracy tradeoff task. The present study was semi-experimental and the tools used included Edinburgh handedness questionnaire, light pen, speed-accuracy ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of handedness and task difficulty on effective target width and temporal accuracy of the Fitts’ speed-accuracy tradeoff task. The present study was semi-experimental and the tools used included Edinburgh handedness questionnaire, light pen, speed-accuracy measurement device, laptop, chronometer, and metronome. The statistical population consisted of students aged between 14 and 15. The sample included 20 students who participated in this study by convenience sampling method. They were divided into two groups: left-hand and right-hand (each group 10 subjects). Each participant performed 4 trials (each trial 30 seconds) of dual target tapping task in rhythm with the metronome sound. The trials consisted of two easy and difficult tasks and each subject performed each task with dominant and not-dominant hands in rhythm with the metronome sound set up at 300 milliseconds. For statistical analysis of data, variance analysis with repeated measures was used at the significance level of 0.05. The results showed that in dominant hand, the handedness and difficulty of the task had no significant effect on the effective width of the target (P=0.973, P=0.611). Also, the handedness did not affect the average time lag (P=0.135, P=0.785), but in non-dominant hand, the average time lag was more for the difficult task than the simple task (P=0.001). In difficult tasks, participants seem to be trying to keep the spatial error rate constant by reducing the speed of the movement and to sacrifice speed for the spatial accuracy. Also, the time error (mean lag) is more influenced by the difficulty of the task than the handedness.
Niloofar Jafari Gandomani; Rasool Abedanzadeh; Esmaeel Saemi
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of active video games on the learning of dart throwing skill in children with autism spectrum disorder. In this semi-experimental study, 30 children with autism spectrum disorder (level 1) in Ahvaz city were purposively selected and randomly assigned ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of active video games on the learning of dart throwing skill in children with autism spectrum disorder. In this semi-experimental study, 30 children with autism spectrum disorder (level 1) in Ahvaz city were purposively selected and randomly assigned to three equal groups (real practice, virtual practice, and control). Firstly, the dart throwing pretest was performed with 10 real trials. Then, the practice groups practiced for 4 sessions during 2 weeks and 30 trials (3 blocks of 10 trials) per session in the acquisition stage. After the last acquisition session, the posttest was performed by 10 trials and retention test was performed after 24 hours. Finally, the transfer test was performed with the counterbalance manner in both environments for all three groups 30 minutes after the retention test. Data were analyzed by mix analysis of variance and post hoc tests at P≤0.05 using SPSS22 software. The results showed a significant difference between the two practice groups in the acquisition stage (P≤0.01) and the virtual group had better performance than the real group. Also, the results indicated that real and virtual groups had better performance than the control group in the retention and transfer tests, and the virtual group had better progress than the real group in the mean scores of dart throwing. In general, the results showed that active video games improved performance and learning of dart throwing in children with autism spectrum disorder.
