Study: Videogames Don’t Lead to Nightmares

Here’s an article out of Canada by Shannon Proudfoot on new German research concerning children and media. Michael Schredl, over at the Sleep Laboratory at Germany’s Central Institute of Mental Health, led the study. The researchers found no correlation between subjects’ amount of videogame play and television watching with frequency of nightmares.

He and his team asked 250 students aged nine to 13 to log the number of hours they spent every day for a week on activities such as watching TV, playing computer games, reading or playing sports, and to list the programs they watched. They were also asked whether they remembered a dream from the previous night and what it was about.

The researchers were surprised to find there was no connection between nightmares and computer games or TV shows – including the police and crime shows that 14 per cent of the children said they watched regularly.

The paper was published in the journal Dreaming where the abstract is freely available. My take: this paper offers empirical weight against arguments critical of educational videogaming where opponents state videogames lead to negative consequences such as nightmares.

References:
Proudfoot, S. (2008, July 26). TV, video games not related to nightmares: study. The Vancouver Sun. [Online]. Retrieved July 29, 2008 from http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?
id=41fafa28-ddf9-4c95-9215-c7e08094a9a0

Schredl, M., Anders, A., Hellriegel, S., & Rehm, A. (2008). TV viewing, computer game playing and nightmares in school children. Dreaming, 18(2). 69-76. [Online]. Available: http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord
&uid=2008-07366-001

Industry Research: Casual Games Benefit Children with ADHD

Last time we looked at corporate research sponsored by PopCap Games, they were examining family habits related to gaming. This time they are looking at benefits casual games have for players with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), turning once again to Information Solutions Group for the survey work.

Kids with ADHD playing casual games (for which the kind PopCap is famous) benefitted from an increased sense of control, a boost in self esteem, improved memory, and improved focus.

Some 13,000 casual gamers were surveyed; about 2,700 reported they or their child had a disability; 422 of these were children, with half suffering from ADHD. More details on the survey are available from the companies’ press release.

Update:

Here’s an article from Wink News regarding the work of James Sendelbach in using videogames and neurofeedback with ADHD patients:

In one game, called “glider,” the goal is to keep an eagle on a video screen flying up in the air. As Brody [an ADHD patient] concentrates, the bird flies higher. But if Brody talks to someone, or looks away and loses focus, the eagle starts to drift down.

Over the course of nine months, Brody’s behavior and his grades are better. And he no longer needs medication. “I would never use the word cured,” his mom says, “Does he exhibit the symptoms of ADHD in the continuum that he would be tagged ADHD? No. He’s just better.”

As Dr. Sendelbach explains, “Medication can change it on a temporary basis. What neurofeedback does is change it on a permanent basis.”

Virtual Telekinesis: Mind Control in Time for Christmas?

Here’s a story from AFP about Emotiv and their neural interface helmet which will allow gamers to control videogames with their thoughts. I blogged about this back in February, noting that Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), or neural interfaces, were all the rage at GDC.

The news this week is Emotiv’s headset, which includes 16 sensors for a built-in EEG unit to measure brainwaves and facial expressions, along with a gyroscope to determine head movement, will be available for the Christmas shopping season. The $299 unit will include a videogame that works with the headset when it goes on sale direct from Emotiv’s website. The game will involve activities where users lift mountains and other things with their minds, combining virtual telekinesis with the RL interface.

The software development kit to design products that integrate into the helmet has been downloaded over 1,000 times, according to the news article. Emotiv co-founder Tan Le and company engineer Marco Della Torre noted the device has multiple uses:

- Law enforcement can use it as a cheap lie detector kit, since it is ultimately an inexpensive EEG. “It certainly could be used as a very accurate polygraph,” Le said. “If you have seen something before, there is no hiding it. There is brain recognition”

- Stroke and coma victims could find new ways to communicate using the device

- Music listeners could easily tag the songs they hear, having the songs classified as making them happy, sad, etc.

My take: BCIs hold great promise in educational fields, providing a true hands-free environment and a rich field for research. Students with disabilities may benefit greatly from BCIs. If Emotiv can offer an effective device at a low price point, as seems probable if the publicity is to be believed, we can expect an uptick in related research soon.

References:
Mind games: Computer headset lets brain control action. [Online]. Retrieved July 8, 2008 from http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJ8pFqcQxTWrU2mZTsgyzefOY8Zg

Lab Research: Drexel Students Create Neural Interface

There’s been a heavy spate of interest at the university level lately to create modified interfaces for controlling videogames; the most exciting of these involves neural interfaces, or brain-computer interfaces. Such research is seen leading toward providing benefit to victims of paralysis and other disabilities.

Students at Drexel University’s Replay Laboratory have experimented with hooking up a neuro-imaging device that fits on the forehead with a videogame. The result is a lab creation called Lazy Brains. Stephanie Abrams with the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia filed a report:

Professors at Drexel think it could be a tool to help students with ADHD focus. They also say since this device will eventually detect more brain activity, it may one day give the severely disabled who can’t talk a way to communicate directly from their brain to the computer.

Grad students who helped create the game and are listed in her report include: Hasan Ayaz, Jordan Santell, and Aaron Bohenick. More information on the Replay research lab at Drexel is available at their website.

Free Mind Exercising Games from FitBrains.com

Canada is now the third largest videogame producing country, overtaking Great Britain’s former position. Marke Andrews over at The Vancouver Sun reports on Vivity Labs, producer of FitBrains.com.

With mostly private money (from five hi-tech industry investors) and some public funds (Telefilm Canada, Industrial Research Assistance Program) behind it, Vivity Labs seeks to replicate the success of Nintendo’s popular Brain Age game, which is also aimed at greying boomers and seniors, and Electronic Arts’ Pogo, a game popular with boomer women. The company’s partners include Vancouver’s Michael Cole, who’s worked in the brain fitness field for the past seven years; Dr. Paul Nussbaum, an American clinical neuropsychologist who specializes in aging; and Mark Baxter, a Vancouver games developer … Prior to the launch, Cole has struck a deal with health magazine Prevention to put three Fit Brains games on its website, and another that licences Fit Brains games with Seattle casual video game site Big Fish.

The site offers nine games with a tenth on the way, aimed mainly at users 40 and over. The games focus on language, concentration, logic and spatial skills. The site will remain in open beta until August, when a monthly fee will be assessed for accessing advanced features of the site.

References:
Andrews, M. (2008, July 3). B.C. company takes aim at brain games geared for boomers. The Vancouver Sun. [Online]. Retrieved July 3, 2008 from http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?
id=7dcc2a05-1825-4245-bbdf-b5ff786a30e3

UK games industry ‘dead man walking’. (2008, July 2). Politics.co.uk. [Online]. Retrieved July 3, 2008 from http://www.politics.co.uk/news/opinion-former-index/
opinion-former-index/uk-games-industry-dead-man-walking–$1229794.htm

Ambient Offers Sub-vocal Chat Device

In the popular Ender’s Game series of science fiction novels, the hero communicated with his computer via sub-vocal conversations. We’re starting to see a variety of non-traditional input devices for videogames, from the Wiimote to Brain Computer Interfaces. Now, a company, Ambient Corp., has demonstrated a working model of a neckband that can translate sub-vocal nerve signals into computer commands. The demo occurred at a Texas Instruments Developers Conference. Applications include wheelchair control, dictation, and assistive technology for the speech impaired. Of course, videogame apps will be offered if there is sufficient interest and demand.

Imagine a videogame adaptation of Ender’s Game where players navigate the interface sub-vocally … Or how about a game the speech impaired can play as well as others? Or how about a military immersion training that users control on several levels, including vocally, hand-eye, and sub-vocally? The possibilities are intriguing.

Report: Brain Fitness Software Shows Strong Potential for Schools

The folks over at SharpBrains have released a new report: The State of the Brain Fitness Market, 2008. Highlights include the following:

1) 2007 was a seminal year for the US Brain Fitness software market, which reached $225 million in revenues – up from an estimated $100 million in 2005.

2) Over 20 companies are offering tools to assess and train cognitive skills to four customer segments: consumers; healthcare and insurance providers; K12 school systems; and Fortune 1000 companies, the military, and sports teams.

3) The Nintendo Brain Age phenomenon has driven much of the growth. The consumer segment grew from a few million in 2005 to an estimated $80 million in 2007.

4) There is major confusion in the market, so education will be key. Users and buyers need help to navigate the maze of products and claims.

5) Over 400 residential facilities for older adults have launched computerized “brain fitness centers.” Sales to the healthcare and insurance provider segment grew from $35 million in 2005 to an estimated $65 million in 2007.

6) More than five programs have shown results in randomized controlled trials. Cognitive functions that can be trained include: visual and auditory processing, working memory, attention, and decision-making.

7) A product has obtained 510(k) FDA clearance for rehabilitation of stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury patients. Another product is being used by a growing network of ADHD specialists.

8 Large-scale, fully-automated cognitive assessments are being used in a growing number of clinical trials. This opens the way for the development of inexpensive consumer-facing, baseline cognitive assessments.

9) The potential for K12 Education remains largely untapped due to limited research linking cognitive training to academic performance.

10) Companies, sports teams and the military are finding opportunities to improve productivity. The aging workforce will make this a must.

Total cost for the report is $495, with a 10% discount to blog readers until Mar. 20.

I’m particularly intrigued with the report’s findings on Brain Age, and the potential for brain fitness software in the form of educational videogames for K-12 schools.

Study: Wiimote Good for Measuring Cognition

The Wii, with its connection from real life physical actions to virtual world videogame actions, continues to fascinate, and has opened up a slew of research possibilities. This week saw another intriguing research study using the Wii, more specifically the Wiimote, from Dr. Rick Dale at U. Memphis along with Jennifer Roche, Kristy Snyder, and Ryan McCall.

Dale and colleagues hooked up a Wiimote to a computer, and used it to measure physical motions taking place during learning tasks. The study showed that as subjects grew more proficient in their learning tasks, their body movements change, becoming more confident and pronounced.

It makes sense that body movement gets better with learning tasks that require fine motor control: a golf swing, for instance. However, this research opens up the possibilities in measuring body movement for other cognitive tasks. It may point to the day when a computer program can measure feedback from its users to gauge how well objectives are being learned.

The Wiimote is a cheap alternative to more expensive three dimensional input devices. Most famously, Johnny Chung Lee showed us how to create a cheap interactive whiteboard using the Wiimote. With this new study, Dale and colleagues have shown how the Wiimote might be used to inexpensively measure body motions. Below is the abstract for their paper.

Much evidence exists supporting a richer interaction between cognition and action than commonly assumed. Such findings demonstrate that short-timescale processes, such as motor execution, may relate in systematic ways to longer-timescale cognitive processes, such as learning. We further substantiate one direction of this interaction: the flow of cognition into action systems. Two experiments explored match-to-sample paired-associate learning, in which participants learned randomized pairs of unfamiliar symbols. During the experiments, their hand movements were continuously tracked using the Nintendo Wiimote. Across learning, participant arm movements are initiated and completed more quickly, exhibit lower fluctuation, and exert more perturbation on the Wiimote during the button press. A second experiment demonstrated that action dynamics index novel learning scenarios, and not simply acclimatization to the Wiimote interface. Results support a graded and systematic covariation between cognition and action, and recommend ways in which this theoretical perspective may contribute to applied learning contexts.

References:
Dale R., Roche J., Snyder K., McCall R. (2008) Exploring action dynamics as an index of paired-associate learning. PLoS ONE 3(3): e1728. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001728. [Online.] Available: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%
2Fjournal.pone.0001728

Interesting Sessions at Games for Health, 2008

Games for Health, 2008 will be held May 8-9 in Baltimore. Here are some of the sessions I found particularly interesting:

A Randomized Controlled Study of the Effectiveness of Casual Video Games in Reducing Stress and Improving Mood
Carmen Russoniello, Eastern Carolina University

Should “Videogame Addiction” be in DSM-V?
Jack Kuo, Promises Treatment Centers

The World of Warcraft Blood Disease : Epidemiological Observations and Findings
Nina Fefferman, Tufts University

PDwii: Using Novel Interfaces to Promote Physical Rehabilitation & Achieve Quantifiable Results
Red Hill Studios

The one by Fefferman on the WoW disease will be intriguing because it will attempt to show how dynamic virtual environments can represent RL phenomena. I’ve covered Wii-hab, stress reduction, and the question of including videogame “addiction” in DSM-V here. (In a word, the answer to this question is, “No.”)

There are many more sessions, and all of them look inviting. The Games for Health conference is always chock full of good content, and this year will be no exception.

Autism Study Examines Effects of Videogames

Here’s a brief news bit from The Kaleidoscope (“UAB’s Student Newspaper – Since 1967”) about a study by Mark Klinger over at U. Alabama on brain scans of autistic students while playing videogames.

In the study, males between 13 and 21 from Alabama had their brain activity measured while playing video games that stimulated social interaction. These games were actual competitive games where opponents were also measured for brain activity.

Brain scans of videogame players seem to be hot these days. The autism angle is certainly interesting, and the possibilities for various other diagnoses to be examined under similar conditions (that is, patients with various disorders or conditions playing games then having MRI scans) is rife with research potential.