June 22, 2017, by Elizabeth Liddle

RECOGNeyes: Feedback and data from the Adult ADHD Support Group

Following on from earlier input we were eager to continue to include individuals with ADHD in the collaborative development of the game. Individuals with ADHD have lived experience of the condition and their input is therefore of critical importance for its success as an effective intervention. An overview of the RECOGNeyes game was presented to the Nottingham Adult ADHD Group at their monthly meeting.

Briefly, the rationale behind the training game is that individuals with ADHD have an underdeveloped attention control system. This attention control system is underdeveloped not because they lack capacity but because this ability has not been sufficiently developed. This may be because of differences in how individuals with ADHD learn. RECOGNeyes isolates the underdeveloped attention control system and provides an opportunity to train this system.

Those in attendance at the Nottingham Adult ADHD meeting had an opportunity to play the game. The game is played on a laptop with a small eye-tracker attached below the screen. Players provided us with feedback with respect to acceptability, enjoyability, and challenge.

One of the main themes highlighted by the group was the wide variation in starting ability. The game employs tracking algorithms that change the game difficulty based on performance. However, the group highlighted the need to ensure that the difficulty settings are initially set low to avoid frustration when people first play the game.

Players generally liked the game theme and graphics but highlighted the need to introduce more variability to improve the replay value. Players also made suggested modifications to the game instructions. While the game does contain feedback players wanted a more obvious scoring system. Players additionally helped to identify a number of programming bugs.

The best news, however, was that players did feel that they had to concentrate specific aspects of their attention system in order to succeed at the game. While some players found the game frustrating the majority found it challenging and enjoyable.

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