Digital worlds can help autistic children to develop social skills

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ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2011) — The benefits of virtual worlds can be used to help autistic children develop social skills beyond their anticipated levels, suggest early findings from new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Researchers on the Echoes Project have developed an interactive environment which uses multi-touch screen technology where virtual characters on the screen demonstrate gestures and  show children's actions in real time.

During sessions in the virtual environment, primary school children experiment with different social scenarios, allowing the researchers to compare their reactions with those they display in real-world situations.

"Discussions of the data with teachers suggest a fascinating possibility," said project leader Dr Kaska Porayska-Pomsta."Learning environments such as Echoes may allow some children to exceed their potential, behaving and achieving in ways that even teachers who knew them well could not have anticipated."

"A teacher observing a child interacting in such a virtual environment may gain access to a range of behaviours from individual children that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to observe in a classroom," she added.

Early indications of this research are that over a number of sessions some children demonstrate a better quality of interaction within the virtual environment and an increased ability to manage their own behaviour, enabling them to concentrate on following a virtual character's gaze or to focus on a pointing gesture, thus developing the skills vital for good communication and effective learning.

The findings could prove particularly useful in helping children with autism to develop skills they normally find difficult. Dr Porayska-Pomsta said: "Since autistic children have a particular affinity with computers, our research shows it may be possible to use digital technology to help develop their social skills."

"The beauty of it is that there are no real-world consequences, so children can afford to experiment with different social scenarios without real-world risks," she added.

The findings from the Echoes Project will showcase technologies for autism during an event in Birmingham which is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science in November.

"In the longer term, virtual platforms such as the ones developed in the Echoes project could help young children to realise their potential in new and unexpected ways," concluded Dr Porayska-Pomsta.

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Likely reason for neurological injuries in children

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ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2011) — José Manuel García Verdugo, a professor of Cell Biology at University of Valencia, together with a University of California research team, has participated in the discovery of new pathways of neurons migrating from lateral ventricles to the prefrontal cortex. The work done in children at early ages reveals a new cell pathway which may increase the amount of neurons in regions important for cognitive tasks, emotional processes and spatial perception.

The zone around lateral ventricles of many non-human mammals generates large numbers of new neurons whose destiny is the olfactory bulb. Cells producing this migration, spring from the walls of the lateral ventricles, where the stem cells are, and reach the olfactory bulbs, generating granular and periglomerular neurons. This proliferation of neurons is constant throughout life.

In the article published in the journal Nature, researchers detailed that this migration to the olfactory bulb exists only at early ages in childhood development and extincts by the age of seven. But the most interesting and unlike other mammals is that a new corridor of cells migrating from lateral ventricles to the prefrontal cortex is found. It is the first time this migration is described and it may contribute to increase the amount of new neurons in regions important for cognitive tasks, emotional processes and spatial perception.

Any disruption of this migratory pathway may be, therefore, the reason for neurological injuries affecting frontal lobe, such as schizophrenia, autism, addiction or hyperactivity in children. "Recently, the discovery of the existence of stem cells in our brain, as well as adult neurogenesis, changed completely scientific perspective on brain -García Verdugo says. Now, this new information makes it possible for us to begin to understand some of the brain disorders affecting people from an early age.

José Manuel García Verdugo is a member of University of Valencia Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (Science Park) and of Prince Felipe research centre morphology laboratory. His participation has focused on morphological research for identifying and interpreting migrating cells in their environment, using electron microscope and immunohistochemistry.

Professor García Verdugo is one of the world experts in the knowledge of neural stem cells, not just in mammals but also in other vertebrates. He also participated in the pioneering work that identified stem cells in the adult human brain (Nature, 427:740-744 (2004)), and participated in the first description of the two mammalian neurogenic areas known to date. He is full professor of Cell Biology at University of Valencia, where he leads a research group focused on the study of adult stem cells in humans.

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Journal Reference:

Nader Sanai, Thuhien Nguyen, Rebecca A. Ihrie, Zaman Mirzadeh, Hui-Hsin Tsai, Michael Wong, Nalin Gupta, Mitchel S. Berger, Eric Huang, Jose-Manuel Garcia-Verdugo, David H. Rowitch, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla. Corridors of migrating neurons in the human brain and their decline during infancy. Nature, 2011; 478 (7369): 382 DOI: 10.1038/nature10487

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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