Thesis:

The effect of group games based on sensory integration theory on cold and hot executive functions of first-year elementary school male students

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of group games based on sensory integration theory on the cold and hot executive functions of first-year male elementary school students. In terms of its applied purpose and data collection method, this study was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of this study consisted of 1,089 male second-grade elementary school students in Sabzevar city schools. The statistical sample of this study included 60 male second-grade elementary school students who were selected from schools in Sabzevar city using convenience sampling. After initial selection and meeting the entry requirements, these 60 students were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups; so that each group ultimately consisted of 30 students. To collect data, the Emotion Regulation Strategies Questionnaire (Gross and John, 2003), Wisconsin Card Sorting Software (Shahgholian, Azad Fallah, Fathi Ashtiani, and Khodadadi, 2011), and Barrett's Balloon Risk Software (Lejuez, 2002) were used. In this study, two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 24 software. In the descriptive statistics section, indicators such as mean and standard deviation were used to describe the research variables in the experimental and control groups. In the inferential statistics section, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (normality of data distribution), Levine's test (homogeneity of variances), and Box's test (homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices) were used to examine the assumptions of parametric tests. Then, to test the main hypothesis and sub-hypotheses, considering the existence of several subscales for cold and hot executive functions and the pretest-posttest design with the control group, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and its corresponding univariate tests were used for each of the subscales. The results showed that group games based on sensory integration theory have a significant effect on students' cold and hot executive functions.

Keywords: Group games, sensory integration, cold executive functions, hot executive functions