THERAPEUTIC VIDEO GAMES AND THE SIMULATION OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION DEFICITS IN ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulty paying attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Diagnosis of ADHD rose 42% from 2003–2004 to 2011–2012. In 2011, 3.5 million children were treated with drugs. Optimizing therapy can take a year, and may not be completely effective. A clinical trial is currently being conducted of a device/drug combination using the computer game Minecraft, to determine how certain activities affect executive function, working memory, and restraint in patients diagnosed with ADHD. The human subjects’ responses are being modeled using artificial neural networks (ANNs), an artificial intelligence method that can be utilized to interpret highly complex data. We propose using ANNs to optimize drug and Minecraft therapy for individual patients based on the initial NICHQ Vanderbilt assessment scores. We are applying ANNs in the development of computational models for executive function deficiencies in ADHD. These models will then be used to develop a therapeutic video game as a drug/device combination with stimulants for the treatment of ADHD symptoms in Fragile X Syndrome. As a first step towards the design of virtual subjects with executive function deficits, computational models of the core executive functions working memory and fluid intelligence were constructed. These models were combined to create healthy control and executive function-deficient virtual subjects, who performed a Time Management task simulation that required the use of their executive functions to complete. The preliminary working memory model utilized a convolutional neural network to identify handwritten digits from the MNIST dataset, and the fluid intelligence model utilized a basic recurrent neural network to produce sequences of integers in the range 1-9 that can be multiplied together to produce the number 12. A simplified Impulsivity function was also included in the virtual subject as a first step towards the future inclusion of the core executive function inhibition

Internet addiction and problematic Internet use: A systematic review of clinical research

AIM: To provide a comprehensive overview of clinical studies on the clinical picture of Internet-use related addictions from a holistic perspective. A literature search was conducted using the database Web of Science. METHODS: Over the last 15 years, the number of Internet users has increased by 1000%, and at the same time, research on addictive Internet use has proliferated. Internet addiction has not yet been understood very well, and research on its etiology and natural history is still in its infancy. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association included Internet Gaming Disorder in the appendix of the updated version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as condition that requires further research prior to official inclusion in the main manual, with important repercussions for research and treatment. To date, reviews have focused on clinical and treatment studies of Internet addiction and Internet Gaming Disorder. This arguably limits the analysis to a specific diagnosis of a potential disorder that has not yet been officially recognised in the Western world, rather than a comprehensive and inclusive investigation of Internet-use related addictions (including problematic Internet use) more generally. RESULTS: The systematic literature review identified a total of 46 relevant studies. The included studies used clinical samples, and focused on characteristics of treatment seekers and online addiction treatment. Four main types of clinical research studies were identified, namely research involving (1) treatment seeker characteristics; (2) psychopharmacotherapy; (3) psychological therapy; and (4) combined treatment. CONCLUSION: A consensus regarding diagnostic criteria and measures is needed to improve reliability across studies and to develop effective and efficient treatment approaches for treatment seekers

Serious Video Games: Angels or Demons in Patients With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? A Quasi-Systematic Review

Objective: To carry out a quasi-systematic review of the use of serious video games for health as a cognitive rehabilitative tool in patients diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Method: A quasi-systematic review of serious video games used as an evaluative and rehabilitative tool in patients with ADHD was conducted. It included behavioral patterns in the use of video games and addiction problems in this population. For its elaboration the PRISMA GUIDES were followed. The search was carried out in three PubMed databases, MEDLINE, and PsycInfo using the keywords: [game OR serious game OR computer game) AND (psychotherapy OR rehabilitation OR intervention OR mental disorders) AND (adhd)], [(adhd) AND (Video game addiction)]. All articles written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese from January 1970 to June 2021 were included: those in which reference was made to the use of video games and/or new technologies as a therapeutic and evaluative tool in children and adults diagnosed with ADHD, as well as those that referred to behavioral and clinical patterns in the use of video games. Results: We found 605 articles of which 128 were reviewed (44 observational studies, 26 quasi-experimental studies, 26 experimental studies, 8 systematic reviews, 9 narrative texts, 6 case reports, 7 pilot studies, 8 systematic reviews, and 2 meta-analyses). Serious video games can be used to ameliorate ADHD symptoms while improving adherence to treatment. Some serious video games show high accuracy properties assessing ADHD features. Conclusion: Serious video games for health are increasingly being used as a cognitive rehabilitation tool in patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Systematic Review Registration: [www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero], identifier [CRD42021247784]This research was partially funded by the Spanish National Project (grant number RTI2018-101857-B-I00), an iPFIS research contract (www.isciii.es; IFI16/00039), a FIPSE grant, and an intensification of research activity for health professionals grant (2019) at the Puerta de Hierro Health Research Institute -Segovia de Arana (IDIPHISA

Plugged in: The effects of electronic media use on attention problems, cognitive control, visual attention, and aggression

The increasing use of electronic media increases the importance of the potential effects of those media (both positive and negative). A recent and growing body of research has focused on the potential for certain forms of electronic media, particularly television and video games, to increase attention problems and impulsiveness while decreasing self-control, executive function, proactive cognitive control, and also improving visual attention. These findings are also relevant to aggression as some of these outcomes have been associated with aggression in previous research and theory. In addition to replicating past findings relating some forms of electronic media use to greater attention problems and aggression, less proactive cognitive control, and superior visual attention, the present study produced several new findings. Watching videos on a computer, sending and receiving text messages by phone, and media multitasking are all associated with greater attention problems. Text messaging and media multitasking are also associated with lower reactive cognitive control. Both listening to music and playing music and party video games are associated with superior visual-spatial attention. Additionally, experimentally assigning participants to play an action video game for 10 sessions not only improved visual attention but also impaired proactive cognitive control, meaning positive and negative media effects can occur simultaneously

Teachers’ perceptions of Information and Communication Technology in the teaching of learners with intellectual disabilities

Abstract: The integration of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) into the inclusive educational context is seen in many schools across South Africa as a response to the global educational technological changes taking place. These efforts include strategic plans aimed at ensuring all schools in South Africa are ICT integrated. However, the effectiveness of these efforts in the inclusive educational context falls short. The challenge presented in terms of ICT integration is extending the benefits of ICTs to learners who are mildly intellectual disabled. While some special needs institutions are supported in terms of the availability of ICT infrastructure and devices, pedagogical integration serves to be problematic. The accommodation of learners who are mildly intellectually disabled to share in 21st-century learning experiences is largely ignored. The area of concern is that in terms of the technological knowledge of teachers in the inclusive educational environment, the delivery of lessons that advocates for ICT-integrated learning experiences is limited. The study explored the notion of technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). The study determined the perceptions of teachers with reference to how the constituents of the TPACK theoretical framework influence each other in an inclusive educational setting. A qualitative approach was followed in order to gain an understanding of the perceptions of special needs teachers regarding the use of ICT in their teaching and learning context. Working from an interpretative paradigm, a qualitative approach underpinned this study to provide an exploratory view of the teachers’ perceptions of ICT in their teaching environment. A single- case study was formulated, expressing the manner in which teachers in a special educational school perceive the role of ICT integration. An analysis of the data generated from the study revealed that some teachers still struggle with the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and raises the question of how then can their technological knowledge (TK) can be aligned. Pertinent findings that emanated from the study were, teachers conveyed that the learners that they teach continually seek news ways to grasp the particular content. Also, the findings uncovered that many teachers are knowledgeable when it comes to the functionality of devices. However, the integration of ICT for learning purposes is a challenge. The study contributed to an understanding that ICT integration initiatives ought to stress the need for teacher training in inclusive educational settings in attempts to harness an alignment of teaching bodies of knowledge related to the content, pedagogy and technological knowledge.M.Ed. (Information and Communication Technology in Education

A brief questionnaire to evaluate the semantic disorder in Alzheimer’s disease: the “Mini SKQ”

peer reviewe

Music, Health, Technology and Design

Contents ------ Foreword / Natasha Barrett. - Editor’s foreword. - Designing four generations of ‘Musicking Tangibles’ / Birgitta Cappelen and Anders-Petter Andersson. - Vocal and tangible interaction in RHYME / Anders-Petter Andersson and Birgitta Cappelen. - An interactive technology for health: New possibilities for the field of music and health and for music therapy? A case study of two children with disabilities playing with ‘ORFI’ / Karette Stensæth and Even Ruud. - Potentials and challenges in interactive and musical collaborations involving children with disparate disabilities. A comparison study of how Petronella, with Down syndrome, and Dylan, with autism, interact with the musical and interactive tangible ‘WAVE’ / Karette Stensæth. - ‘Come sing, dance and relax with me!’. Exploring interactive ‘health musicking’ between a girl with disabilities and her family playing with ‘REFLECT’ (A case study) / Karette Stensæth. - ‘FIELD AND AGENT’: Health and characteristic dualities in the co-creative, interactive and musical tangibles in the RHYME project / Ingelill Eide. - Health affordances of the RHYME artefacts / Even Ruud. - PARTICIPATION: A combined perspective on the concept from the fields of informatics and music and health / Karette Stensæth, Harald Holone, and Jo Herstad. - From experimental music technology to clinical tool / Alexander Refsum Jensenius. - Technology and clinical improvisation – from production and playback to analysis and interpretation / Jaakko Erkkilä, Esa Ala-Ruona, and Olivier Lartillot. - Using electronic and digital technologies in music therapy: the implications of gender and age for therapists and the people with whom they work / Wendy L. Magee. - Author informationImagine that objects in your home environment – let us say a pillow, a carpet or a toy – became musical and interactive. Do you think that they could offer new ways of playing and being together? Could they even have the potential to reduce isolation and passivity and promote health and well-being for some of us? This anthology, the eighth in the Series from the Centre for Music and Health, presents a compilation of articles that explore the many intersections of music, health, technology and design. The first and largest part of the book includes articles deriving from the multidisciplinary research project called RHYME (www.rhyme.no). They engage with the study of the design, development, and use of digital and musical ‘co-creative tangibles’ for the potential health benefit of families with a child having physical or mental needs. Well-known international researchers broaden the picture on the book’s topic in the second part. They ask: How can video-based visualisation techniques of music-related body motion diagnose health problems? How can music therapy practice profit by digitalised improvisation analysis? What are the implications of gender and age in music technology for therapists and the people with whom they work? All together, this book supplies a broad perspective on its topic, which should be of interest to a wider audience. The Centre for Music and Health at the Norwegian Academy of Music was established in 2008. The centre conducts research and dissemination. Its goal is to develop knowledge about the connections between music and healt

Using Virtual Reality to explore individual differences in perception due to neurodiversity

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to our understanding of individual differences in visual perception, specifically in autistic and ADHD traits as well as associated diagnosed groups; and explore the use of Virtual Reality (VR) environments to enhance communication and creative expression for these individuals. The thesis begins by introducing autism and ADHD, emphasizing the perceptual differences associated with the conditions. It also highlights the importance of a person-centric approach in research and introduces the use of drawing as a research method, as it allows the capture of subjective experiences. We do so to better understand how VR as a research platform can help us study individual differences. Previous research neglects perceptual and cognitive aspects of neurodivergence in VR research and lacks clear systemized, theoretical and methodological standards; as we demonstrate in three consecutive literature reviews on VR applications in autism research. Using mixed methods and arts-based research we provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. Feasibility studies investigate perceptual differences in local and global processing, using the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) task and free drawing. We demonstrate a link between attention-related traits and performance on visual tasks, such as ROCF. Moreover, we introduce novel methodology for evaluating two-dimensional and three-dimensional drawings and triangulating this information with qualitative thematic analysis. Furthermore, our free drawing task reveals that simplistic immersive virtual environments are viewed favorably by autistic individuals, and participants often share their thought processes spontaneously, potentially suggesting reduction in the power imbalance between the researchers and the participants. The significance of this study is that we provide evidence for the feasibility of a new methodological approach (drawing in VR) to understand perceptual differences associated with neurodiversity

Editorial: Executive function(s): Conductor, Orchestra or Symphony? Towards a Trans-Disciplinary Unification of Theory and Practice Across Development, in Normal and Atypical Groups

There are several theories of executive function(s) that tend to share some theoretical overlap yet are also conceptually distinct, each bolstered by empirical data (Norman and Shallice, 1986; Shallice & Burgess, 1991; Stuss and Alexander, 2007; Burgess, Gilbert, & Dumentheil, 2007; Burgess & Shallice, 1996; Miyake et al., 2000). The notion that executive processes are supervisory, and most in demand in novel situations was an early conceptualization of executive function that has been adapted and refined over time (Norman & Shallice, 1986; Shallice, 2001; Burgess, Gilbert & Dumentheil, 2007). Presently there is general consensus that executive functions are multi-componential (Shallice, 2001), and are supervisory only in the sense that attention in one form or another is key to the co-ordination of other hierarchically organized ‘lower’ cognitive processes. Attention in this sense is defined as (i) independent but interrelated attentional control processes (Stuss & Alexander, 2007); (ii) automatic orientation towards stimuli in the environment or internally–driven thought (Burgess, Gilbert & Dumontheil, 2007); (iii) the automatically generated interface between tacit processes and strategic conscious thought (Barker, Andrade, Romanowski, Morton and Wasti, 2006; Morton and Barker, 2010); and (iv) distinct but interrelated executive processes that maintain, update and switch across different sources of information (Miyake et al., 2000). One problem is that executive dysfunction or dysexecutive syndrome (Baddeley & Wilson, 1988) after brain injury typically produces a constellation of deficits across social, cognate, emotional and motivational domains that rarely map neatly onto theoretical frameworks (Barker, Andrade & Romanowski, 2004). As a consequence there is debate that conceptual theories of executive function do not always correspond well to the clinical picture (Manchester, Priestley & Jackson, 2004). Several studies have reported cases of individuals with frontal lobe pathology and impaired daily functioning despite having little detectable impairment on traditional tests of executive function (Shallice & Burgess, 1991; Eslinger & Damasio, 1985; Barker, Andrade & Romanowski, 2004; Andrés & Van der Linden, 2002; Chevignard et al., 2000; Cripe, 1998; Fortin, Godbout & Braun, 2003). There is also some suggestion that weak ecological validity limits predictive and clinical utility of many traditional measures of executive function (Burgess et al, 2006; Lamberts, Evans & Spikman, 2010; Barker, Morton, Morrison, McGuire, 2011). Complete elimination of environmental confounds runs the risk of generating results that cannot be generalized beyond constrained circumstances of the test environment (Barker, Andrade & Romanowski, 2004). Several researchers have concluded that a new approach is needed that is mindful of the needs of the clinician yet also informed by the academic debate and progress within the discipline (McFarquhar & Barker, 2012; Burgess et al., 2006). Finally, translational issues also confound executive function research across different disciplines (psychiatry, cognitive science, and developmental psychology) and across typically developing and clinical populations (including Autism Spectrum Disorders, Head Injury and Schizophrenia – Blakemore & Choudhury, 2006; Taylor, Barker, Heavey & McHale, 2013). Consequently, there is a need for unification of executive function approaches across disciplines and populations and narrowing of the conceptual gap between theoretical positions, clinical symptoms and measurement

Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Patterns in Children vs. Adults with ADHD Combined and Inattentive Types: A SPECT Study

Objective: The current study sought to determine whether ADHD Combined Type (ADHD-C) and ADHD Primarily Inattentive Type (ADHD-PI) showed differential regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) patterns in children vs. adults. Participants and Methods: The overall sample (N=1484) was effectively split into four groups: adults with ADHD-PI (n=519), adults with ADHD-C (n=405), children with ADHD-PI (n=192), children with ADHD-C (n=368). All participants were void of bipolar, schizophrenia, autism, neurocognitive disorders, and TBI. The data were collected from a de-identified archival database of individuals who underwent SPECT scans at rest. Results: Using αConclusions: Overall, the current study suggested that children may show rCBF differences between different ADHD subtypes, but adults may not. The current study did not find significance in any of the 17 brain regions examined when comparing adults with ADHD-C to adults with ADHD-PI. All significant findings were attributed to the children with ADHD-C group showing aberrant blood flow rate than at least one other group. Previous research has supported that the differentiation of these subtypes as distinctive disorders is difficult to make in adults (Sobanski et al., 2006). Other research has indicated the potential of imaging techniques to differentiate the two in children (Al-Amin, Zinchenko, & Geyer, 2018). The current findings support nuanced ways in which rCBF patterns of ADHD-C and ADHD-PI differ between children and adults