Smartphone “brain games” may be all the rage, but few of them are back by evidence showing they actually improving cognition or mood.
Now, researchers at Michigan State University have announced the development of a smartphone application that seems to be able to lessen a player’s anxiety and increase his or her ability to focus, according to a new report published in the journal Behavior Therapy.
People often blame their inability to concentrate to an inherent flaw. However, anxiety makes it difficult for someone to concentrate on daily tasks – from office work to reading for pleasure. According to the anxiety blog Calm Clinic, when an anxious person feels distracted, his or her brain is working harder just to concentrate.
“What’s interesting is that calling them concentration problems may be misleading,” the website states. “Often you ARE concentrating – you’re simply concentrating on the wrong things, like your anxiety and the way it makes you feel.”
Therefore, by helping people to focus better, a technique could help to lower a person’s their racing anxious thoughts.
In the study, volunteers with both low and high anxiety performed a focus task involving the recognition of a particular shape among multiple other shapes. Later, volunteers were given an exercise intended to distract them: mixing in several colored shapes. By and large, volunteers were not distracted by this added layer of complexity.
Study author Jason Moser said in a news release the participants had better concentration and decreased anxiety, even after the distraction exercise.
The future of anxiety games
“Down the line we could roll out an online or mobile game based on this research that specifically targets distraction and helps people stay focused and feel less anxious,” said Moser, an associate professor of clinical psychology.
Moser noted other similar “brain games” make claims of being able to help people, but few offer up tangible proof.
“There have been other studies of video game-type interventions for anxiety,” he added, “but none have used a specific and simple game that targets distraction.”
Until Moser and his colleagues produce a viable smartphone app, experts recommend using background noise to lessen anxiety during work and sharpen focus. Keeping a “stress journal” and writing out anxious thoughts also seems to help some individuals.
(Image credit: Thinkstock)
Comments