Brain-wavebiofeedback
New (as yet unpublished) research23 suggests videogames linked to brain-wave biofeedback may help children with attention deficit disorders. Biofeedback teaches patients to control normally involuntary body functions such as heart rate by providing real-timemonitors of those responses. With the aid of a computer display, attention-deficit patients can learn to modulate brain waves associated with focusing. With enough training, changes becomeautomaticandleadtoimprovementsin grades, sociability, and organizational skills. Following on from research involving pilot attentiveness during long flights, a similar principle has been developed to help attention-deficit children stay focused by rewarding an attentive state of mind.Thishas been done by linking biofeedback to commercial videogames.
In their trial, Pope24 selected half a dozen ‘Sony PlayStation’ games and tested 22 girls and boys between the ages of 9 and 13 who had attention deficit disorder. Half the group got traditional biofeedback training, the other half played the modified video games. After 40 one-hour sessions, both groups showed substantial improvements in everyday brain-wave patterns as well as in tests of attention span, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity.
Parents in both groups also reported that their children were doing better in school. The difference between the two groups was motivation. The video-game group showed fewer no-show sand no drop outs.There searchers do warn that the‘wrongkinds of videogame’may be detrimental to children with attention disorders. For instance, ‘shoot ‘em up’ games may have anegative effecton children who already have a tendency toward short attention and impulsivity.They also state that the techniqueis an adjunct to drug therapy and not a replacement for it.