More than 150 million Americans play video games, and about 64% of households have someone who engages in at least 3 hours of gaming a week. Seventy-two percent of gamers are 18 years old or older, with the average age of gamers being 34 years of age. In 2016, the gaming industry sold over 24.5 billion games and generated mover than $30.4 billion dollars in revenue. With so many people playing video games, it is important to know what are the potential consequences of game play. It turns out that game play is not as bad as the media reports. Individuals who play video games have faster reaction times (Castel et al., 2005, Chandra et al., 2016) and processing speeds (Green et al 2010); they demonstrate improved attention (Green and Bavelier 2003, Green et al., 2010; Green & Bavelier 2012), decision making (Green et al 2010), and multitasking (Green et al., 2012; Strobach et al., 2012) compared to individuals who do not play video games in nonclinical healthy populations. In addition to the relationships and benefits seen in healthy populations, action game play has also been used as a rehabilitation aid in a wide range of patient populations (Li et al. 2011, Franceschini et al. 2013, Cuthbertet al. 2014, Champimol et al. 2017, Anguera et al. 2013).

However, all of the above mentioned research used traditional video games involving a two-dimensional screen and a gaming platform. Recently, virtual reality platforms have become more affordable and accessible for consumers. These newer platforms have a limited presence in the literature and therefore offer a new avenue for empirical exploration. For this reason, we are interested in exploring the effects of game training with more advanced technology in both non-clinical healthy populations and in clinical populations who experience mild cognitive impairment. I currently have several research projects investigating the effects of game training on both clinical and non-clinical populations.
 

Click below if you are interested in the becoming a participant to see if you qualify:

Exploring the effects of game training on cognition and stress in a non-clinical healthy population. 

Exploring the effects of game training on cognition in clinical concussion or mild traumatic brain injury population. 

Exploring the effects of game training on cognition and balance in a clinical acquired brain injury population.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States (Taylor et al. 2017). Approximately 1.5 million people seek medical attention annually for mild TBI (mTBI), and all TBI related costs contribute to approximately $76 million in medical expenses and lost wages in the United States (Finkelstein et al. 2006, Coronado et al. 2012). While most patients see resolution of symptoms within 2-14 days post-injury, 20% suffer persistent and complex symptomatology ranging from months to years, primarily with headache and cognitive impairment (Iverson 2005). Yet, based on the most recent consensus guidelines, medical guidance for recovery from mTBI is limited to physician monitoring until spontaneous symptom resolution, with limited to no direct intervention (McCrory et al. 2017). To date, research involving physical and cognitive rest is contradictory (Moser et al. 2012, Majerske et al. 2008). Additionally, there is little evidence for active recovery rehabilitation interventions in the mTBI literature. Therefore, it is important to identify any potential intervention that can directly and functionally aid in mTBI recovery. The current research will provide an empirically validated means for more active recovery for patients that can easily be adopted by physicians given current market availability of dietary supplements and will potentially lead to more favorable post-injury outcomes. If you are interested in participating in the above study, and have suffered a concussion or mild traumatic brain injury within the last 3 months and you are still experiencing symptoms click on the link below for more information about the study and to see if you qualify for participation.

The Kentucky Neuroscience Institute is conducting a study to determine the effects of commercially available dietary supplements on cognitive performance in a mild traumatic brain injury and concussion patient population.

You may be eligible to participate if you:

• Are an adult 18 – 55 years of age
• Have no pre-injury history of a psychiatric disorder
• Have not been previously diagnosed with gallbladder disease
• Have not been previously diagnosed with hypertension
• Do not have any known food allergies to dairy, soy, wheat, peanuts, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, sulfites, or corn
• Have not previously been diagnosed with diabetes
• You are not currently taking an opioid to reduce headache pain
• You are not involved in active ligation resulting from your injury
• Are not pregnant or nursing