New research suggests that playing videogames can positively assist sufferers of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and help to improve sufferers' attention skills. SPOnG, having the attention span of a gnat on speed, is keen to hear more about this research.
ADHD, a well-documented and commonplace ailment amongst hyperactive children and those who work in the media, is still - in all seriousness - a puzzling and much-misunderstood learning disorder. Sufferers are commonly described as being ‘wired’ - restless, impulsive, and easily distracted. Acute sufferers are commonly prescribed the much-maligned stimulant Ritalin, which calms the jitters children with ADHD experience.
In adults, Ritalin basically works like a speed-style stimulant, which suggests to SPOnG that it might not be something we really want to be feeding our kids if we can help it. However, if playing videogames can somehow improve an ADHD sufferer’s attention shortfall and overall mental state, then we do want to know more.
Clinical Psychologist Henry Owens, according to a recent report in USA Today, is developing videogame-based technology that helps ADHD-sufferers to better regulate their own brainwave activity. Owens says that ADHD sufferers experience "constant frustration" and he has recently began offering a patented video game system to some of his patients.
The S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames system Owen is using has been developed by the San Diego-based company CyberLearning Technology, which sounds sufficiently enough like a William Gibson sci-fi dystopian nightmare company to pique our by now flagging interest a little more.
Owens currently has four patients who have been playing S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames in their homes for nearly a year now. Some users, he notes, use the system in combination with more traditional psychoactive medications, whilst others want to try the system on its own before turning to drug-based treatments.
S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames’ mission, as it states on the website, is to offer “The most effective NASA developed and patented Neurofeedback technology to clinics, schools and homes providing affordable and successful opportunities to improve attention learning and improve cognitive performance in an enjoyable and engaging way.”
How does this all work, we idly wonder. Prepare yourself now for ‘the science bit’. The videogames in question are linked to brain-wave bio-feedback which helps kids with ADHD train their minds to tune in and settle down. Driving games and platformers, according to the S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames’ site, work best. Violent FPS’s are the least effective. Now why doesn’t that surprise us!
Basically it is difficult for a child with ADHD to learn how to self-regulate and know what it feels like to concentrate. More than 15 years of studies show that with the aid of a computer display and an EEG sensor attached to the scalp, ADHD patients can learn to modulate brain waves associated with focusing. This ‘bio-feedback’ technique helps sufferers to increase the strength of high-frequency beta waves and decrease the strength of low-frequency theta waves, creating a more attentive state of mind.
With enough training, changes become automatic and have been shown to lead to improvements in grades, sociability, and organisational skills.
According to the S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames website: “Through this sophisticated feedback system, individuals are taught to effectively exercise their brain, leading to increased awareness and differentiation of mental states. EEG Neurofeedback training naturally empowers the brain to effortlessly develop increased control and strength, much like the effects of weight lifting to develop muscle strength or jogging to improve cardiovascular fitness. Improvements in the ability to focus and sustain concentration are naturally developed.”
The videogame system they have developed works like this: as the player enters and maintains the desired brain state, full control of the game controller is enabled. This means that the player is able to play the video game at 100% control, as any normal player would. However, if the player does not maintain the desired brain state, their speed and steering control decrease.
So, as Owen notes, "If [the player] just plays video games on their own, they will zone out… [but] when they play on this system, if they zone out, the video game doesn't respond any more," acting as an incentive to improve focus and concentration.
The S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames device works through a specially designed helmet, which looks a bit like a cycle helmet with built-in brain-wave sensors. Signals from the helmet’s sensors are fed through a signal-processing unit and then to a PS2 controller as a game is played.
Of the 700+systems the company has sold so far, around 70% have gone to patients using them under the supervision of a health care professional, while 30% have been bought by people "simply wanting to sharpen their attention or memory."
When interviewed by USA Today, Thomas Peake, another Melbourne clinical psychologist, said that he supported the concept, as long as it was in the right hands: "If it's done right, these things, in and of themselves, can be quite helpful…And kids are used to playing games and like them."
Peake used to utilise bio-feedback to help patients control pain and confirmed that it is often successfully used to help speed recovery in stroke patients.
"Most people off the street would not know how to use these devices, however," he cautioned. "But, to me, the principle is a good one."
S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames urge that the technology is used in accordance with the guidelines of one of their qualified advisers who they list on their website. Whilst far cheaper than hospital-based systems, the whole home-kit for PlayStation still costs nearly $600, which suggests to SPOnG that the profit-motive, in addition to a benign concern for ADHD sufferers, is also playing a significant part in CyberLearning Technology's marketing of this product.
ADHD, a well-documented and commonplace ailment amongst hyperactive children and those who work in the media, is still - in all seriousness - a puzzling and much-misunderstood learning disorder. Sufferers are commonly described as being ‘wired’ - restless, impulsive, and easily distracted. Acute sufferers are commonly prescribed the much-maligned stimulant Ritalin, which calms the jitters children with ADHD experience.
In adults, Ritalin basically works like a speed-style stimulant, which suggests to SPOnG that it might not be something we really want to be feeding our kids if we can help it. However, if playing videogames can somehow improve an ADHD sufferer’s attention shortfall and overall mental state, then we do want to know more.
Clinical Psychologist Henry Owens, according to a recent report in USA Today, is developing videogame-based technology that helps ADHD-sufferers to better regulate their own brainwave activity. Owens says that ADHD sufferers experience "constant frustration" and he has recently began offering a patented video game system to some of his patients.
The S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames system Owen is using has been developed by the San Diego-based company CyberLearning Technology, which sounds sufficiently enough like a William Gibson sci-fi dystopian nightmare company to pique our by now flagging interest a little more.
Owens currently has four patients who have been playing S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames in their homes for nearly a year now. Some users, he notes, use the system in combination with more traditional psychoactive medications, whilst others want to try the system on its own before turning to drug-based treatments.
S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames’ mission, as it states on the website, is to offer “The most effective NASA developed and patented Neurofeedback technology to clinics, schools and homes providing affordable and successful opportunities to improve attention learning and improve cognitive performance in an enjoyable and engaging way.”
How does this all work, we idly wonder. Prepare yourself now for ‘the science bit’. The videogames in question are linked to brain-wave bio-feedback which helps kids with ADHD train their minds to tune in and settle down. Driving games and platformers, according to the S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames’ site, work best. Violent FPS’s are the least effective. Now why doesn’t that surprise us!
Basically it is difficult for a child with ADHD to learn how to self-regulate and know what it feels like to concentrate. More than 15 years of studies show that with the aid of a computer display and an EEG sensor attached to the scalp, ADHD patients can learn to modulate brain waves associated with focusing. This ‘bio-feedback’ technique helps sufferers to increase the strength of high-frequency beta waves and decrease the strength of low-frequency theta waves, creating a more attentive state of mind.
With enough training, changes become automatic and have been shown to lead to improvements in grades, sociability, and organisational skills.
According to the S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames website: “Through this sophisticated feedback system, individuals are taught to effectively exercise their brain, leading to increased awareness and differentiation of mental states. EEG Neurofeedback training naturally empowers the brain to effortlessly develop increased control and strength, much like the effects of weight lifting to develop muscle strength or jogging to improve cardiovascular fitness. Improvements in the ability to focus and sustain concentration are naturally developed.”
The videogame system they have developed works like this: as the player enters and maintains the desired brain state, full control of the game controller is enabled. This means that the player is able to play the video game at 100% control, as any normal player would. However, if the player does not maintain the desired brain state, their speed and steering control decrease.
So, as Owen notes, "If [the player] just plays video games on their own, they will zone out… [but] when they play on this system, if they zone out, the video game doesn't respond any more," acting as an incentive to improve focus and concentration.
The S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames device works through a specially designed helmet, which looks a bit like a cycle helmet with built-in brain-wave sensors. Signals from the helmet’s sensors are fed through a signal-processing unit and then to a PS2 controller as a game is played.
Of the 700+systems the company has sold so far, around 70% have gone to patients using them under the supervision of a health care professional, while 30% have been bought by people "simply wanting to sharpen their attention or memory."
When interviewed by USA Today, Thomas Peake, another Melbourne clinical psychologist, said that he supported the concept, as long as it was in the right hands: "If it's done right, these things, in and of themselves, can be quite helpful…And kids are used to playing games and like them."
Peake used to utilise bio-feedback to help patients control pain and confirmed that it is often successfully used to help speed recovery in stroke patients.
"Most people off the street would not know how to use these devices, however," he cautioned. "But, to me, the principle is a good one."
S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames urge that the technology is used in accordance with the guidelines of one of their qualified advisers who they list on their website. Whilst far cheaper than hospital-based systems, the whole home-kit for PlayStation still costs nearly $600, which suggests to SPOnG that the profit-motive, in addition to a benign concern for ADHD sufferers, is also playing a significant part in CyberLearning Technology's marketing of this product.
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