Narratives and sensor driven cognitive behavior training game platform

Abstract

This research introduces the narratives and sensor driven behavior treatment framework in the form of a serious game. For this, well-known fairy tale, the Fisherman and the Genie from the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, also known as the Arabian Nights, is refined to be used as the narrative storytelling source of the game platform. In addition, the platform is interfaced with brain-computer interface (BCI) and motion sensing assistive devices. This game platform is built on top of the Unity3D engine to provide children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with a serious game which helps them improve their behavior with dynamically adaptive intervention scheme. Moreover, their brainwaves and motions are captured and identified by the game platform in real-time. The monitored sensing data is stored in the Elasticsearch cloud search engine for real-time and post-performance evaluation of players' behavior and the effectiveness of this behavior treatment mechanism. The main idea of the behavior treatment is to make the narrative contents drive a player and help a cyber character, the fisherman. The real-world player accomplishes the given narrative quests, resulting in helping the fisherman reach his goal. The degree of the player's attention level and his/her fidelity to the given quests directly influence the flow of the game, by enforcing the fisherman to proceed to go fishing or be prohibited from continuing his job. This adaptive intervention affects the entire paths of the game and significantly delays the clearing time of game sessions. As a result, this platform is expected to help children with ADHD improve their level of attention, control their hyperactive behavior, and develop their social skills as they learn how to behave according to the presented narrative game contents. In addition, this behavior treatment approach is evaluated by analyzing the attention and meditation levels, the number of recognized motions, and the completion ratio of the given narrative quests in combination with the recognized sensing data and the associated narrative contents.