This mixed-methods study examined differences in social interaction patterns between a school-age boy with autism and his friends, non-reciprocal friends, and non-friends during recess time at a mainstream school (third grade of elementary school). Through a combination of observational methodology and social network analysis with an idiographic, follow-up and multidimensional design approach, we used lag sequential and polar coordinate analysis to ascertain the associations between various interactive behaviors as a function of type of friendship relation. After 40 sessions, we found that the non-reciprocal friendship relations of the boy with autism could have significantly greater potential than his reciprocal friendships to increase active engagement and reduce the time he spent alone during recess.

Communicative acts include verbal and non-verbal acts as well as the analysis of the dialogic relationships and power relationships associated to each of those acts. This article discusses data from two case studies in education, where communicative acts were analyzed to identify those that promote new alternative masculinities that help to prevent gender violence. One of the main methodological challenges was how to conduct the data collection and the analysis of the interactions and non-verbal language. Communicative methodology was used to face this challenge. Specifically, thanks to communicative organization (a) a preliminary analysis with different stakeholders was conducted to define relevant aspects to be covered in the fieldwork, (b) data analysis performed by a multidisciplinary team to guarantee that the focus would not be deviated from the communicative act, and (c) an Advisory Council was created to validate the results obtained through equal dialogue between researchers and participants.

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The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in brain activity in various types of throwing games by making encephalographic records. Three conditions of throwing games were compared looking for significant differences (simple throwing, throwing to a goal, and simultaneous throwing with another player). After signal processing, power spectral densities were compared through variance analysis (p ≤ 0.001). Significant differences were found especially in high-beta oscillations (22–30 Hz). “Goal” and “Simultaneous” throwing conditions show significantly higher values than those shown for throws without opponent. This can be explained by the higher demand for motor control and the higher arousal in competition situations. On the other hand, the high-beta records of the “Goal” condition are significantly higher than those of the “Simultaneous” throwing, which could be understood from the association of the beta waves with decision-making processes. These results support the difference in brain activity during similar games. This has several implications: opening up a path to study the effects of each specific game on brain activity and calling into question the transfer of research findings on animal play to all types of human play.

Traditional games are considered agents of enculturation. This article explores the procedure to access the cultural meanings transmitted in a traditional game. The goal is to understand what children aged 6–11 make of the game called ‘the chained bear’ and to compare the meanings retrieved with those of different traditional versions of the game. For such a purpose, through an exploratory cross-sectional study, cartoons depicting people playing the game were exhibited and viewers (n = 359; age range: 6–11; Mean age = 8.79; SD = 1.81) were asked to interpret them as a drama play, as well as contributing a title, a plot and saying how they would name the characters. The results show that, beyond the individual images that each child created in their mind, most of them coincided in stories about harassment and defense and theft and protection. These plots match those of the ludic tradition, showing that the actions evoke different pictures to each individual, but share common cultural meanings in turn. The study shows a procedure to access the meanings that traditional games transmit and confirms that games contain pieces of culture, which makes them agents of enculturation.