Dementia, music and biometric gaming: Rising to the Dementia Challenge

In 2012, the U.K. government launched its Dementia Challenge, authorizing additional funding for dementia research and health care. The search for curative medicines is ongoing, but scientific research reveals evidence that music can play a positive role in general health, and in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in particular. This article considers whether some of the challenges that dementia presents could be addressed through music therapy and proposes that biometric gaming might offer one means of channeling such associated health benefits to sufferers of dementia, even in the final stages of the disease

Rehabilitative devices for a top-down approach

In recent years, neurorehabilitation has moved from a "bottom-up" to a "top down" approach. This change has also involved the technological devices developed for motor and cognitive rehabilitation. It implies that during a task or during therapeutic exercises, new "top-down" approaches are being used to stimulate the brain in a more direct way to elicit plasticity-mediated motor re-learning. This is opposed to "Bottom up" approaches, which act at the physical level and attempt to bring about changes at the level of the central neural system. Areas covered: In the present unsystematic review, we present the most promising innovative technological devices that can effectively support rehabilitation based on a top-down approach, according to the most recent neuroscientific and neurocognitive findings. In particular, we explore if and how the use of new technological devices comprising serious exergames, virtual reality, robots, brain computer interfaces, rhythmic music and biofeedback devices might provide a top-down based approach. Expert commentary: Motor and cognitive systems are strongly harnessed in humans and thus cannot be separated in neurorehabilitation. Recently developed technologies in motor-cognitive rehabilitation might have a greater positive effect than conventional therapies

Are Early Investments In Computer Skills Rewarded In The Labor Market?

The paper assesses the relationship between investments in computer skills by adolescents and earnings at age 26. The heaviest investors earned 9 to 16 percent more than otherwise equivalent NELS-88 classmates. The payoff to early computer skills was substantial in jobs involving intense and complex uses of computers; negligible when computers were not used at work. It was non-gaming use of computers outside of school that enhanced future earnings, not playing video/computer games—which lowered earnings. Children in low SES families invested less in computer skills and thus benefited less from the job opportunities generated by the digital revolution

Plug-in to fear: game biosensors and negative physiological responses to music

The games industry is beginning to embark on an ambitious journey into the world of biometric gaming in search of more exciting and immersive gaming experiences. Whether or not biometric game technologies hold the key to unlock the “ultimate gaming experience” hinges not only on technological advancements alone but also on the game industry’s understanding of physiological responses to stimuli of different kinds, and its ability to interpret physiological data in terms of indicative meaning. With reference to horror genre games and music in particular, this article reviews some of the scientific literature relating to specific physiological responses induced by “fearful” or “unpleasant” musical stimuli, and considers some of the challenges facing the games industry in its quest for the ultimate “plugged-in” experience

Harmony and Technology Enhanced Learning

New technologies offer rich opportunities to support education in harmony. In this chapter we consider theoretical perspectives and underlying principles behind technologies for learning and teaching harmony. Such perspectives help in matching existing and future technologies to educational purposes, and to inspire the creative re-appropriation of technologies

Spartan Daily, November 3, 1944

Volume 33, Issue 22https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/10982/thumbnail.jp

Electronic Dance Music in Narrative Film

As a growing number of filmmakers are moving away from the traditional model of orchestral underscoring in favor of a more contemporary approach to film sound, electronic dance music (EDM) is playing an increasingly important role in current soundtrack practice. With a focus on two specific examples, Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998) and Darren Aronofsky’s Pi (1998), this essay discusses the possibilities that such a distinctive aesthetics brings to filmmaking, especially with regard to audiovisual rhythm and sonic integration

Spartan Daily, October 8, 1946

Volume 35, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/3790/thumbnail.jp

The game transfer phenomena scale: an instrument for investigating the nonvolitional effects of video game playing

A variety of instruments have been developed to assess different dimensions of playing videogames and its effects on cognitions, affect, and behaviors. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Game Transfer Phenomena Scale (GTPS) that assesses non-volitional phenomena experienced after playing videogames (i.e., altered perceptions, automatic mental processes, and involuntary behaviors). A total of 1,736 gamers participated in an online survey used as the basis for the analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to confirm the factorial structure of the GTPS. The five-factor structure using the 20 indicators based on the analysis of gamers’ self-reports fitted the data well. Population cross-validity was also achieved and the positive associations between the session length and overall scores indicate the GTPS warranted criterion-related validity. Although the understanding of GTP is still in its infancy, the GTPS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing non-volitional gaming-related phenomena. The GTPS can be used for understanding the phenomenology of post-effects of playing videogames