Researchers Develop Video Game 'Tenacity' To Improve Mindfulness In Middle Schoolers

It is estimated that a staggering 97 percent of adolescents play video games during their spare time. While many often see video games as mere time-killers, a team of researchers from the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Irvine see them as an opportunity to develop mindfulness in the youth.

To do this, the researchers developed a video game called "Tenacity," wherein players will be led through relaxing landscapes. During the game, players have to tap once per breath while also counting their breaths for the first four breaths, then they have to tap twice for every fifth breath. They receive more points for tapping accurately.

According to researchers, the game can train mindfulness by encouraging the players to focus on their breaths.

Brain Changes

To test the game’s effectiveness, the researchers recruited 95 middle school-aged participants who were randomly assigned to two different groups: the Tenacity group and a control group that played the game “Fruit Ninja” or another game that does not specifically teach breath counting.

The participants were all instructed to play the game for 30 minutes per day for two weeks, and the researchers conducted brain scans before as well as after the two-week period.

Interestingly, the results revealed changes in the connectivity between the critical brain areas for the attention of the participants in the Tenacity group, while the participants in the control group did not present any changes in these areas.

Further, the brain changes in the Tenacity group were associated with improvements on a separate and unrelated attention task in the laboratory, something that was not observed in the control group.

Simply put, just two weeks of playing Tenacity improved the young participants’ attention and mindfulness.

Mindfulness And Empathy

“This study illustrates that changes in objective measures of brain function and behavior are achievable with relatively short amounts of practice on a novel video game,” study co-author Richard Davidson said. “ Video games may be a powerful medium for training attention and other positive qualities in teenagers, and even small amounts of practice induce neuroplastic changes. ”

Apart from Tenacity, the researchers also developed the game Crystals of Kaydor, which is designed to help develop empathy and pro-social behavior in children. In Crystals of Kaydor, the game promotes social interactions that are kind, cooperative and collaborative.

With American children between the ages of 8 and 18 playing games for an average of 73 minutes per day, well-designed games that can engage children’s attention yet still have meaningful impacts can prove useful in children’s positive learning in development.

So far, the games are for research purposes and are not supported for public use.