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RELEASE NO. 00-063
Video Games May Lead To Better Health Through New NASA
Technology
For decades doctors have used
biofeedback as a way to help control stress and
tension. Now NASA technology adds a new twist by
combining this mind-over-matter technique with the hand-eye
coordination of video games.
According to researchers at NASA's
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., the results may actually
improve and protect a player's mental and physical health.
 This unique interactive
system, tested at Eastern
Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in Norfolk, Va., trains
people to change their brainwave activity or other physiological
functions while playing popular off-the-shelf video
games. This is accomplished by making the video game
respond to the activity of the player's body and brain.
"Thirty years of biofeedback
research has shown that by training specific brainwave changes, or
reductions in other abnormal physiological signals, people can
achieve a wide variety of health-enhancing outcomes," said Dr.
Olafur Palsson, assistant professor of psychiatry and family
medicine at EVMS. "With this new technology, we have
found a way to package this training in an enjoyable and inherently
motivating activity."
Signals from sensors attached to
the player's head and body are fed through a signal-processing unit
to a video game joystick or other control device. As the
player's brainwaves come closer to an optimal, stress-free pattern,
the video game's joystick becomes easier to
control. This encourages the player to produce these
patterns or signals to succeed at the game.
In this way, recreational video
games have the potential to help both children and adults with a
variety of health problems -- from concentration difficulties to
physical stress.
 Unlike earlier biofeedback
methods, which tended to be monotonous and simplistic, this
technology adapts to today's most popular games, giving players a
healthful side effect, while fully preserving the high-tech
entertainment value.
"This technology is a spin-off of
NASA research where we measure the brain activity of pilots in
flight simulators," added co-inventor Alan Pope, Ph.D., of
Langley's Crew/Vehicle Integration Branch. "Flight
simulators are essentially very sophisticated video
games." Pope is an adjunct research assistant professor
in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at EVMS.
In addition, in what could be
called a "spin-back" application, NASA is studying ways to use the
technology for pilot training.
Early results from a video game
biofeedback study suggest that the technology is
effective. In this first test, to be completed this
fall, the technology is being applied as a treatment for attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children with
ADHD, between the ages of 9 and 14, either play popular video games
or receive more traditional brainwave biofeedback
treatment. Both forms of treatment help the children's
symptoms, but the video game treatment seems to have distinct
advantages.
"The main difference we see
between the groups so far is in motivation -- the children in the
video game group enjoy the sessions more and it is easier for the
parents to get them to come to our clinic," said Dr. Palsson,
principal investigator in the study and co-inventor of the
technology.
"This technology could be in homes
all over the country within the next two or three years," according
to David Shannon of Langley's commercialization
office. "Several companies have applied for a license to
produce training systems for the general public."
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NOTE TO EDITORS: Still images are available from
Keith Henry at
H.K.Henry@larc.nasa.gov and video from Kim Land at
K.W.Land@larc.nasa.gov or 757/864-9885.
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