Games & Well-Being Study (GWB)

University of Wisconsin (UW)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Attentional Processing; Adolescent Behavior

Treatments: Other: Control for Prosocial Intervention; Other: Control for Attention Intervention; Other: Prosocial Training Intervention Game; Other: Attention Training Intervention Game

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01886911

Bill & Melinda Gates (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Grant Number (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Davidson-GWB

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project is focused on the neural and behavioral correlates of two different videos games that will be used as training tools. The two video games, developed by the Games Learning Society research group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, are tailored to train mindfulness, particularly the regulation of attention; and prosocial behavior, especially sensitivity to others, in adolescents. This study will evaluate the hypothesis that systematic playing of mindfulness and prosocial games will change brain function in specific attentional, social and emotional circuits in potentially beneficial ways, and will impact performance on cognitive tasks of attention, and on measures of social cue perception and the propensity to share and behave altruistically. The investigators will employ behavioral and functional MRI-based neuroimaging measures to evaluate the investigators hypothesis.

Enrollment: 192 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 12 to 15 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Fluent English speaker
• Enrolled in 7th or 8th grade

Exclusion criteria

• Currently on psychotropic medications

Trial design

192 participants in 4 patient groups

Control for Attention Intervention

Active Comparator group

Description:

Attentional Control Game is an active control group. We expect subjects in this group to play a control game for 2 weeks (plus or minus 7 days).

Treatment:

Other: Control for Attention Intervention

Prosocial Training Intervention Game

Experimental group

Description:

The prosocial intervention group, which we expect will be play the experimental prosocial training game for 2 weeks (plus or minus 7 days).

Treatment:

Other: Prosocial Training Intervention Game

Attention Training Intervention Game

Experimental group

Description:

The attention intervention group, which we expect will be play the experimental attention training game for 2 weeks (plus or minus 7 days).

Treatment:

Other: Attention Training Intervention Game

Control for Prosocial Intervention

Active Comparator group

Description:

This is an active control group. We expect subjects in this group to play a control game for 2 weeks (plus or minus 7 days).

Treatment:

Other: Control for Prosocial Intervention