BrainLeap Technologies has launched The Attention Arcade, a new gaming platform aiming to help children with attention problems to focus through gaming. The Arcade consists of a number of games and special components to help parents keep track of their children's attention spans during gaming sessions.
What exactly is The Attention Arcade?
According to BrainLeap, The Attention Arcade is a "cutting-edge gaming platform" which combines eye tracking with special assessment tools to improve and strengthen attention skills and focus. Using eye tracking hardware, players will play six different games, controlling the games with their eyes. Each game focuses on a different aspect of attention, and BrainLeap says that if players engage with the games for more than twenty minutes per day, they'll see results "in as little as four weeks", with more significant results occurring after eight weeks.
In addition to the six games included with The Attention Arcade, you'll also find three assessments to help understand how the skills children are learning can be transferred to the real world. There's also a reporting tool to help parents see what games their kids are playing and how much time they're spending on those games, as well as a parent training module. BrainLeap is selling access to the games themselves for $39 per month, or you can purchase a bundle that includes the eye tracker for $49 per month. You'll also find full descriptions of all six games and which aspects of attention they train by following the above link. Alternatively, the eye tracker can be purchased direct from Amazon.
What's the science behind The Attention Arcade?
The research needed to create The Attention Arcade was funded by the National Institutes of Health, with BrainLeap creating and testing each game at San Diego's University of California. All participants in the clinical trial showed improvements in at least one measure of attention. On average, BrainLeap found a 68% improvement in "fast and accurate shifts of attention", with a 55% improvement in inhibitory control and a 30% improvement in focus. You can check out the full scientific background for The Attention Arcade right here; there's plenty more info for science nerds to get stuck into.
Disclosure: Amazon works with TechRaptor for affiliate partnership, and TechRaptor earns a small commission off purchases made from some links in this article.
Will you be checking out The Attention Arcade? Let us know in the comments below!
