Assessing the mental state of attention using a neurofeedback system and serious game tool

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder, which is predominantly treated with the administration of psychostimulants. A complementary alternative for ADHD treatment is the neurofeedback (NFB), a method in which patients are trained to perceive and control their physiology, regulate their own brainwaves. As the NFB has a repetitive aspect and can be long lasting, “serious games” may be used to maintain interest throughout the process. This paper presents the development of a NFB system to assess the mental state of attention and analyze the improvement of concentrated attention using the Neurofeedback Space, a Serious Game tool. We present a preliminary validation to choose the brain region and the signal processing algorithm to be used. Training accuracy of 98.12% and test accuracy of 93.88% were achieved. To test the complete NFB system, an experiment with 5 volunteers, and 5 sessions was carried out. Three evaluation metrics were used to analyze the performance of the proposed system: the game metrics, the ratios alpha/beta and theta/beta throughout the sessions, defined here as brain data, and the Concentrated Attention Test. Almost all volunteers improved their performance in the Concentrated Attention Test. Regarding the game metrics, it was possible to observe improvements in the Attention and Score between the most sessions. The brain data results were inconclusive, as there was no common behavior pattern for the volunteers, but it was possible to notice a similarity between the behavior of the game metrics and the brain data in some volunteers in T3 and C3 electrodes. The attention test and game metrics improvement show that the volunteers were able to perceive their own attention and control it to advance in the game.