Autism
Can a Chinese mind-body exercise improve memory in autistic children?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
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.
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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Key findings
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.
Methodology
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.
Limitations
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.
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