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How digital therapy video games help for rehabilitation

How digital therapy video games help for rehabilitation

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Video games that were developed as digital therapies can help people with ADHD, brain injuries and cognitive challenges by activating neuroplasticity. Tony Simon von Northheastern is at the forefront of this innovative research.

A person who wears a VR headset.
Digital therapies are “precision medicine because a video game is very adaptive,” said Simon. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

People with ADHD, learning difficulties or brain injuries due to strokes can have an enormous focus, cognitive and rehabilitative advantages of a surprising activity: play video games.

For more than 30 years, the cognitive neuroscientist Tony Simon at Northheastern University has been working on the leadership of digital therapies that can change brain function.

Simon, who came to Oakland's campus in January, said video games can be designed in such a way that they activate certain areas of the brain and essentially provide the treatment of people who recover from brain injuries or have neurocognitive challenges.

Tony Simon holds a microphone.
The cognitive neuroscientist Tony Simon spoke a symposium about games and the reality on the Oakland campus of Northeastern University. Courtesy

While commercial games are designed in such a way that players are committed, therapeutic games activate certain brain processes that unlock the neuroplasticity of the brain, or the ability to change in a reaction to stimuli structurally.

“The brain is an activity -dependent organ,” said Simon. “You can't swallow behaviors.”

Digital therapy must act as a closed loop, he said, which continuously adapts and personalized the challenge of changing the brain machinery. The commitment of users can be a challenge, since the game “has to keep the user on or near his optimal level of performance in order to create neurocognitive changes”.

In other words, players never win. However, these products are digital therapies, not games.

Simon spoke on a symposium about games and the extended reality industry on the Oakland campus of North Heasters. Extended Reality or XR describes any technology that combines the physical and digital reality.

During his career, Simon contributed to creating extended reality therapy for people with very different treatment requirements.

Digital therapy with Fastbrain aims at the neurocognitive systems that are based on a genetic disorder called 22Q11.2 deletion syndrome and, among other things, causes mental disabilities. Simon's research contributed to the development of Fastbrain, which led to improvements in behavioral and brain processing for children who played the game.

Simon helped another therapy for people who rehabilitated after a stroke. Cognivivr using the virtual reality with head and creates tasks in an immersive world that adapts to the patient's physical ability. After eight weeks five to six times a week, patients have a significantly improved smoothing of the movements.

“What we develop is precision medicine because a video game is very adaptive,” said Simon. “At every moment it is to find out what your skills are and to adapt the challenge.”

In an earlier role at Akili Interactive, Simon helped improve and expand the company's company products that have improved the symptoms for people with ADHD who have difficulties. The therapy forces the players to do tasks and at the same time suppress distracting stimuli. In contrast to medication that temporarily stimulates neurotransmitters to improve the focus, digital therapy permanently changes the brain machine. Studies with children and adults with ADHD show significant improvements in focus and quality of life, said Simon.

The games and the XR symposium also contained presentations by Noah Falstein by The Inspiracy and Brittan Heller from Stanford University and Atlantic Council. Azad Balabaner from Niantic, Dan Miller from Unity and Rachid Elguerrab from Hiaba Labs have carried out a panel discussion about games, XR and AI.

The symposium was organized by Nathalie Mathematics, Professor and Designer Professor and Graduate Program coordinator on the Oakland Campus, which offers graduated degrees both in play science as well as in design and expanded realities.

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