Frequently Asked Questions

How does it work?
Eye movement and attention are tightly linked and share much of the same brain circuitry. To put it simply, where we look and where we are planning to look are where we are placing our attention. The games leverage this connection with games designed to train different aspects of attention. The player uses his or her eyes to control the games via an eye tracker.

You can learn more at The Science Behind the Attention Arcade.

What hardware do I need?
The games require an eye tracker. If you are using a Windows PC, the games will work with the Tobii Eye Tracker 4c, 5 or 5L. If you are using the MacOS, you will need a Tobii Eye Tracker 4L, which you can only get through BrainLeap. For either system, we recommend a 15” screen or larger.

Who can it help?
The Attention Arcade has shown measurable improvements in children with weak attention skills. Whatever the reason for attention challenges, training can usually help.

The ideal target age is 7-12, because children have to play the games regularly and this is the age group that is most engaged when playing the games. Older players can also benefit, but it is harder to keep them engaged for the training time needed to see results.

The games are not recommended for children under 7. We hope to have games for this younger age group within a year or two.

How often does a user have to train?
Players should train for 20-30 minutes per day 5 days per week over 8-12 weeks to see maximum benefits. That is why it is important that they are engaged.

How fast should we see results?
Improvements are closely tied to the amount of time played. If a child is playing daily for 20 minutes or more, you could see results in as little as 4 weeks with significant improvements possible after 8 weeks.

How do we know if the games are improving attention?
Hopefully, you will notice it in your child’s or student’s behavior. However, we also include objective measures of attention in the game suite. Users get a baseline assessment within the first hour of training. They are assessed again regularly to mesaure progress.

Will the games work on a Mac?
Yes, we released the MacOS version in November 2021. The MacOS version requires a different eye tracker (Tobii 4L), which is only available from BrainLeap at this time.

Will the games work on a Chromebook?
Not currently, but we are working on getting the eye tracker to integrate with the ChromeOS.

Does the eye tracker work for everyone?
According to the Tobii specifications, it works for 97% of the population. If it will not work for your child or students, we will gladly refund you your money.

Do you offer any type of guarantee or refund?
If your child uses the attention training games for at least 7 hours and does not see improvements on the in-suite assessments, we will refund your money. If they train less than 7 hours, we would not expect to see significant improvements.
We will also offer a refund if your child cannot get calibrated with the eye tracker.

Is there a peer-reviewed journal paper describing this work?
Yes, initial results were published here: Chukoskie, L., Westerfield, M., & Townsend, J. (2017). A Novel Approach to Training Attention and Gaze in ASD: A Feasibility and Efficacy Pilot Study. Developmental Neurobiology.
While that is a paid journal, it is available via the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a manuscript:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5897171/