Can a Chinese mind-body exercise improve memory in autistic children?
Autistic children who practised the slow-movement exercise Nei Gong for a month recalled more pictures and used better memory strategies, while children doing muscle relaxation or no training did not improve.
Source
Neuroenhancement of Memory for Children with Autism by a Mind-Body Exercise
Study at a glance
- Design
- RCT — Randomised to Nei Gong training, progressive muscle relaxation (active control) or no training for 1 month; visual memory task with EEG recorded before and after
- N
- N=48 · 66 children randomised; 48 completed both assessments (18 Nei Gong, 17 relaxation, 13 no-training)
- Population
- Children aged 5-17 in Hong Kong diagnosed with autistic disorder or PDD-NOS, without other comorbidities or psychiatric medication
- Outcome
- Total recall, semantic clustering and visual scanning scores on a picture memory task; frontoposterior EEG theta coherence and sLORETA theta source activity during encoding
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What they did
Sixty-six children with autism aged 5 to 17 were randomly assigned to learn Nei Gong (gentle, slow movements to music), to learn progressive muscle relaxation, or to receive no training, for one month with two one-hour sessions a week plus home practice. Before and after, each child studied 24 line drawings from four categories (shown in a random or a category-organised layout) and then picked the studied pictures out from new ones while EEG was recorded. The researchers scored how many pictures were recognised and whether children retrieved them in category clusters or by scanning neighbouring positions.
What they found
Only the Nei Gong group improved: its semantic clustering rose in the random layout, and its total recall and visual scanning rose in the organised layout, with medium effect sizes (about 0.57 to 0.73), whereas the relaxation and no-training groups showed no change. After Nei Gong, children also showed increased theta-band coherence between frontal and posterior electrodes and higher theta source activity in prefrontal, parietal and temporal areas during encoding. Children with lower IQ tended to gain more.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Of the children who started, 18 were lost (11 could not complete the memory task, 7 withdrew), leaving small groups of 13 to 18, and the analysis was of completers only. Many outcomes and electrode pairs were tested without correcting for multiple comparisons, and the group-by-time interaction for EEG coherence was not significant, so the brain findings rest on within-group tests. Different therapists taught the two training methods, which the authors note could confound the comparison, and there was no follow-up to see whether gains lasted or reached everyday functioning. The proposed mechanism in terms of 'Qi' circulation is a traditional concept not tested by the study.
Key terms
- Nei Gong
- A Chinese mind-body exercise of slow, gentle, relaxed movements, here taught to children as five movements set to music.
- Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)
- A technique of tensing and then relaxing muscle groups in sequence; used here as an active control that is also calming but lacks Nei Gong's movement practice.
- Semantic clustering
- Recalling items from the same category one after another, a sign that a person is using meaning-based organisation to help memory.
- EEG theta coherence
- How closely the 4-7.5 Hz rhythms at two scalp sites move in step, used as an index of functional connectivity between brain regions.
- Active control group
- A comparison group that receives a different, plausible intervention, helping rule out effects of attention, contact and expectations.
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Quiz yourself
What was the purpose of the progressive muscle relaxation group?
Common questions
Why include a muscle-relaxation group rather than only a no-training group?
Relaxation involves the same amount of contact, instruction and calm, so if Nei Gong beats it the benefit is less likely to come only from extra attention or relaxation.
Does this prove Nei Gong improves memory in all autistic children?
No. Groups were small, some less able children could not do the task, and there was no follow-up; the authors themselves call for larger trials across ages and ability levels.
Why look at strategies like clustering rather than only total recall?
Memory problems in autism are thought to stem partly from weak executive control over how information is organised, so changes in strategy show how any improvement might come about.
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