Attention deficit disorder? Try video games
And who says video games are only useful for causing carpal-tunnel and bad vision. A NASA-developed technology, called Smart BrainGames, is showing to be promising in helping children with ADD/ADHD. The technology was originally intended to improve a pilot’s in-flight concentration, but it looks promising when you consider the alternative: ADD/ADHD medication.
When her 11-year-old son was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder last year, Janet Herlihey warmed up to an unthinkable solution for his problem: video games. What sold her on games, instead of medication, was NASA technology that could help “tune” her child’s brain to focus and relax while playing fairly innocuous, off-the-shelf games like “Hatchet and Clank” on Sony’s Playstation 2. The system, called Smart BrainGames, essentially monitors her son’s brain waves through the use of sensors in a helmet while he plays a game. A box that can be hooked up to PS2 then makes actions in the game change. The more he concentrates, for example, the faster a car will go in a racing game. The BrainGames technology was originally created at NASA to improve pilots’ attention while flying. Cyberlearning Technologies, based in San Diego, obtained an exclusive license to the technology in 2002, and followed it up a year later by creating the patented overall learning system.
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