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[Tripon]

An unidentifiable omnipresent game-meister says: "Doing one thing at a time is easy, but doing them both at the same time is where the magic happens!"

As I get better at the game, my brain is being trained to ignore distractions and stay focused — or, at least, that's the hypothesis of the neuroscientists who designed it.

The brain networks that control multitasking overlap with networks that control working memory and attention span. So, by playing this game — Project Evo — some scientists believe you can improve a range of cognitive skills and, by extension, relieve a range of symptoms associated with cognitive disorders.

"We've been through eight or nine completed clinical trials, in all cognitive disorders: ADHD, autism, depression," says Matt Omernick, executive creative director at Akili, the Northern California start-up developing the game.

In fact, the creators believe their game will be so effective it might one day reduce or replace the drugs kids take for ADHD. But this kind of goal requires a totally different business model; before they can deliver their game to players, they first have to go through the Food and Drug Administration — the FDA.

"The first time those three letters were uttered in a group setting, everyone's like, "Oooo, that's scary, do we want to do that?" Omernick recalls.

Silicon Valley companies routinely avoid government regulation, if at all possible. The process for FDA approval can be slow and expensive.

"If it says 'FDA approval needed' in the business plan, I myself scream in fear and run away," says Tim Chang, managing director at Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm. He's never backed a company that wanted to go through the FDA.

On the other hand, Chang admits that going the regulatory route could really pay off. If the FDA gives its stamp of approval, doctors could prescribe the game. And that opens the door for insurance companies to pay for it.

"Then you're going into the land of the big, big budgets," Chang says.

Drug companies are keeping an eye on these games, too. Pfizer partnered with the Project Evo team to see if the game could help improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The drug manufacturer believes it could alleviate some of the problems with drug trials — helping to make them faster, cheaper and more efficient.

Right now, screening for Alzheimer's is subjective. Patients and families fill out forms on mood and attention. The results are often inaccurate. Some of the people recruited for drug trials end up not having Alzheimer's at all. Dr. Michael Ehlers, Pfizer's chief scientific officer for neuroscience, says Project Evo could help them identify better candidates more quickly.

"I'd like to think we could cut down standard clinical trials, in size and length-of-time, by half or more," he says.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...ay-this-video-game-and-call-me-in-the-morning

 

[thehunter1320]

Thanks for sharing this! Crazy to think that we're only at the precipice of the true potential of games.

 

[SaganIsGOAT]

The book "Smarter" has a really cool section on video games and cognitive function. University of Rochester student C. Shawn Green and friends who played Team Fortress classic stumbled upon the fact that they had altered their visual attention processing and improved their useful field of view significantly.