A new computer system that lets users control a computer with mind power alone is helping students with attention problems learn to focus and control restless behavior. Play Attention is a patented educational system that prompts users to perform tasks on the computer simply by concentrating. The system uses a sophisticated helmet with brain wave sensors that measure the student's level of focus and cognitive processing.
Students use the helmet to interact with a variety of fun and engaging educational exercises.
Schools using the system report that it helps students with attention problems increase concentration, time on task, visual tracking, short-term memory, and discriminatory processing. It also helps children modify disruptive and distracting behavior. Play Attention is based on two decades of brain research from leading universities, including feedback technology used by NASA and the military for pilot training. This sophisticated instrumentation has been adapted to work on personal computers, using a helmet that processes brain output and translates it to the computer screen. The company's president, Peter Freer, says the system works because it lets learners directly observe their own brain's ability to focus.