RECOGNeyes Gaze-Control Training

Plain-language summary

RECOGNeyes is a computer game developed by members of the research team to improve attention in people who find it hard to "keep their eyes on the task". Players use a small eyetracker to control the game with their eyes, giving their gaze-control system (oculomotor control system) a thorough work-out. This is a "confidence-in-concept" study to see whether RECOGNeyes holds promise as an approach to improving attentional control. It takes the form of a clinical trial, in which three groups of participants will undertake different amounts of RECOGNeyes training. The goals of the study are to find out: * Whether RECOGNeyes training changes patterns of brain activity during a challenging gaze-control task. * What changes in brain activity participants show when their gaze control improves. Before and after RECOGNeyes training, participants will have two kinds of brain scan: 1. Magnetoencephalography to measure their brain waves while they do a gaze-control task that involves shifting their gaze to look either towards, or away from, an object that suddenly appears on the left or right side of a screen. It takes extra control to look away from the object as they have to actively resist the strong impulse to look towards it. 2. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain while the participants are at rest in the scanner, with their eyes open. This reveals the connection patterns between different parts of the brain when the participant is not doing anything in particular. Participants will be healthy young adults, and recruitment will focus on young people who are receiving academic support for their studies, as they are more likely to have problems with "keeping their eyes on the task". They will be given sealed written instructions to play RECOGNeyes at home two, three or four times per week for two weeks, playing for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. How many times per week they are to play will be decided by random draw. From the scanning data, the researchers will: * Measure changes in brain waves and brain connectivity before and after training. * Measure improvements in the gaze-control task and how strongly the improvements relate to brain changes. * See whether the brain changes relate to how long the participants spent training. If participants who trained for longer show more improved gaze control, as well as greater brain changes, this will provide grounds for confidence in the RECOGNeyes approach to improving inattention.

Who can participate

What they're measuring

Trial details