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What is Focus Pocus?
Focus Pocus is a game with benefits. It is played for fun and was designed to provide an environment to practice skills such as attention, relaxation, impulse-control, and memory. You train to develop “powers” by mastering the 12 engaging mini-games. These powers help you battle the evil necromancer, and also may help improve behaviour and academic outcomes! In training mode, rewards and incentives are provided. The difficulty level of the games is adaptive, adjusting game-by-game to the performance of the child - the goal is improvement. Focus Pocus uses live brain electrical activity (i.e. EEG) from the NeuroSky MindWave portable EEG device, with some games controlled directly by brain power and control. |
What was Focus Pocus designed to do?
The games within Focus Pocus are engaging and fun. They also exercise important psychological processes that underlie our ability to control our own behaviour, when we learn, play and interact. Take learning for example: The outcome of a learning experience is the result of the content presented, the environment in which it is presented, and the person’s readiness to learn. This readiness depends on attention (a “state” factor) as well as being able to hold information in memory, control impulses, and ignore distractions (cognitive factors). Being calm and relaxed is also a part of this readiness. Focus Pocus addresses this readiness, providing an environment to exercise the state and cognitive factors.
Who may benefit from Focus Pocus?
Focus Pocus targets the problems that underlie the behaviour seen in children with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD show very frequent inattentive, impulsive, and in some cases hyperactive behaviours - this has a negative effect on the child’s ability to learn, play and interact with others. The most consistent problems are with impulse-control (the ability to stop, think and then act), working memory (holding information needed to do a task in mind), and state-control (the ability to adjust the level of attention/relaxation to an appropriate level to achieve aims). Focus Pocus provides an environment for children with ADHD to exercise to improve these problem areas. It is the only application to address each of these three key areas at the same time, taking advantage of the dynamic interplay between them.
How might Focus Pocus help?
Research has shown that behaviour can be improved by using techniques to enhance state and cognitive factors. The main reason for this improvement is more efficient and effective impulse-control, working memory, and state-regulation ability. Focus Pocus was designed to allow exercise of each of these important areas at one time, in one fun package.
What types of training are used?
Has any research been conducted to examine outcomes?
Yes. Peer-reviewed published research studies have shown behavioural improvements for children with ADHD after 20-25 training sessions (or about 10-12 hours) of using the cognitive exercises in Focus Pocus. Inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive behaviours were reduced after training. Parents reported that their children were better able to follow through on instructions, reading more and without prompting, and behaving more appropriately in the classroom and at home.
What happens after the 25 training sessions?
The user moves into the Apply phase, making use of the Challenge and Multiplayer features of Focus Pocus, giving open access to all exercises. As shown below, this phase involves putting the skills learned during training to use, and proceeds at the users own pace.
Does Focus Pocus claim to have therapeutic benefits?
Focus Pocus is not a therapeutic treatment for ADHD or any other disorder. It must not be used in place of any recommended medical treatment. Focus Pocus offers users an opportunity to exercise important psychological processes such as attention, working memory and impulse control, with a view to improve them. These processes underlie behavioural control, and improving them may result in improved behaviour. The software monitors performance and adjusts the level of difficulty accordingly to constantly challenge the user to improve.
Is Focus Pocus safe?
How is Focus Pocus different to other training approaches?
The games within Focus Pocus are engaging and fun. They also exercise important psychological processes that underlie our ability to control our own behaviour, when we learn, play and interact. Take learning for example: The outcome of a learning experience is the result of the content presented, the environment in which it is presented, and the person’s readiness to learn. This readiness depends on attention (a “state” factor) as well as being able to hold information in memory, control impulses, and ignore distractions (cognitive factors). Being calm and relaxed is also a part of this readiness. Focus Pocus addresses this readiness, providing an environment to exercise the state and cognitive factors.
Who may benefit from Focus Pocus?
Focus Pocus targets the problems that underlie the behaviour seen in children with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD show very frequent inattentive, impulsive, and in some cases hyperactive behaviours - this has a negative effect on the child’s ability to learn, play and interact with others. The most consistent problems are with impulse-control (the ability to stop, think and then act), working memory (holding information needed to do a task in mind), and state-control (the ability to adjust the level of attention/relaxation to an appropriate level to achieve aims). Focus Pocus provides an environment for children with ADHD to exercise to improve these problem areas. It is the only application to address each of these three key areas at the same time, taking advantage of the dynamic interplay between them.
How might Focus Pocus help?
Research has shown that behaviour can be improved by using techniques to enhance state and cognitive factors. The main reason for this improvement is more efficient and effective impulse-control, working memory, and state-regulation ability. Focus Pocus was designed to allow exercise of each of these important areas at one time, in one fun package.
What types of training are used?
- Neurofeedback principles are used to exercise attention and relaxation (“state” factors) via awareness and development of control with practice. The NeuroSky MindWave EEG device provides information about the current level of attention (ranging from high to low) with games designed to encourage and reward control. Importantly, the games also promote awareness and control of relaxation (ranging from calm to tense) and the combination of the two – called “Zen” – being focussed and calm is the ideal state for learning.
- Cognitive training and learning principles are used to exercise impulse-control and working memory, with encouragement and reward for good performance during high levels of attention. This combination is crucial, as processes such as impulse-control and working memory are dependent on the child’s state. A mid-range attention level is the ideal state for performance of many cognitive tasks. Remember all of this is hidden in games that are engaging and fun!
Has any research been conducted to examine outcomes?
Yes. Peer-reviewed published research studies have shown behavioural improvements for children with ADHD after 20-25 training sessions (or about 10-12 hours) of using the cognitive exercises in Focus Pocus. Inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive behaviours were reduced after training. Parents reported that their children were better able to follow through on instructions, reading more and without prompting, and behaving more appropriately in the classroom and at home.
What happens after the 25 training sessions?
The user moves into the Apply phase, making use of the Challenge and Multiplayer features of Focus Pocus, giving open access to all exercises. As shown below, this phase involves putting the skills learned during training to use, and proceeds at the users own pace.
Does Focus Pocus claim to have therapeutic benefits?
Focus Pocus is not a therapeutic treatment for ADHD or any other disorder. It must not be used in place of any recommended medical treatment. Focus Pocus offers users an opportunity to exercise important psychological processes such as attention, working memory and impulse control, with a view to improve them. These processes underlie behavioural control, and improving them may result in improved behaviour. The software monitors performance and adjusts the level of difficulty accordingly to constantly challenge the user to improve.
Is Focus Pocus safe?
- Yes. Our level of attention and relaxation varies frequently – second by second. The neurofeedback exercises in Focus Pocus allow the user to become aware of their current state, and to gain a certain level of control of it over time based on this feedback. The exercises are short duration, and randomly vary between Focus (attention), Relax (relaxation) and Zen (the combination of the attention and relaxation). This variety results in genuine awareness, flexibility and control, rather than just learning a response to a stimulus, making transfer of this new awareness and control easier in day-to-day activities.
- It is important to note that there are no known side effects from other similar applications using EEG-based attention/relaxation training – these applications often target a single goal (e.g. "increase attention") over an extended period of time (say, 10 minutes).
- The short duration attention exercises in Focus Pocus are similar to other activities that children engage in daily (e.g. playing video games, doing homework) in the way that they increase attention, and do not place children at any risk. The variety of exercises types (i.e. Focus, Relax and Zen) ensures that children do a mix of attention focusing and relaxing when playing Focus Pocus.
- The working memory and impulse control exercises passively monitor Focus in the background and are such are 100% safe.
How is Focus Pocus different to other training approaches?
- Focus Pocus is easy to use, with a very high quality interface, and research-proven hardware
- The games are engaging and fun with lots of variety and a unifying theme
- Focus Pocus brings together cognitive and neurofeedback training in one package and was designed by PhD qualified experts in the area
- The training can be carried out at home, in the car, anywhere!
- The software uses brain electrical activity recorded "from the source" (i.e. the brain). Other systems claim to be able to measure EEG from locations other than the scalp, with no evidence for this in the scientific literature.
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Testimonial
“David*, who is in Grade 6, has made amazing progress. David has been diagnosed AD/HD since Grade 3. Before training, he was very demotivated and underachieving at school, and could hardly pass any subject and had no friends. After 3 sessions he began to show improvements in class. He now has 2 friends. He has also made big progress in Maths, and seems more responsible and mature than before.” *named changed |
Testimonial
“According to his teacher, James* has made a lot of progress. He is much better in control himself and he can complete school work as quick as his peers. Before training he was very worried, demotivated and afraid to even hear any words that related to 'teacher'. Now he is a confident and happy boy.” *named changed |
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Are parents seeing any changes in their children’s behaviour after Focus Pocus?
Parents completed an 18 item behaviour rating scale prior to, and at the end of, training with Focus Pocus. Figure 1 shows parent ratings of the frequency of three categories of behaviour, before and after training with Focus Pocus. After training with Focus Pocus there were reductions in the frequency of each category of behaviour. Parents made ratings of day-to-day behaviour at regular intervals during training (for example, after 5 training sessions had been completed). Figure 2 shows the parent ratings after 5, 10, 15 and 20 training sessions. The dark line shows the trend across training sessions, indicating improvement in behaviour across the training sessions. Are children learning awareness and control of brain states that will help them in everyday life? Children do a number of "benchmarking tests" of their ability to generate three different brain states spontaneously, without any on-screen assistance, to see if they are learning a skill they can use in everyday life. Figure 3 shows the brain state scores before and after training with Focus Pocus. The data shows increases in the ability to spontaneously produce each of the three brain state after training with Focus Pocus, with the largest increase in Focus. |
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