Background
Sustained attention has been promoted in cognitive training circles as a kind of 'antidote' to ADHD. Neurofeedback games have focused on the type of brainwaves being emitted during a task: gamma waves are associated with meditation and higher conscious states, while beta waves are associated with voluntarily directed attention. Alpha waves, the slowest and associated with inattention, are more common in ADHD kids and the kind these games aim to reduce.
The effect is similar to mindfulness practice, which has become popular of late as a way to increase self-control. References
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Other programs
Other programs
Play Attention is a
therapy program developed for boys with ADHD based on this same
principle, which they say was initially developed at NASA to train
figher pilots. They use a helmet with brainwave sensors and have a slate
of six tiered computer games for attention, memory and visual
processing. Well designed, but the games are old looking and it costs
$2000 per unit. It has tracking software and is designed for delivery by
a therapist, though it's also sold to parents with instructions. Claims
results in 40-60 hours of use. My concern, aside from the cost, is that
kids would never spend that much time on it unless prodded.
Mindflex Dual This toy from Mattel uses the same brainwave technology of much pricier therapies aimed at kids with ADD. By focusing your attention you can hold a ball aloft and move it about an obstacle course. Playing the game helps you gain control of that ability, which is also used to focus and stay on tasks. In the Power Push variation, players try to push the ball to the other player's side. I was quite excited to find this at $50-$75, as the only comparable systems I've seen sell for $2000 and up. Mindball is a sexy, competitive version of this game aimed at the corporate sector. You can see a video of it being used on the Regis morning show. It has real time graphs that plot out your progress and do reporting, and is also in the $2000 plus range. Comments
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