Games & Well-Being Study

Neural Correlates of Video Game Based Training to Foster Mindfulness and Prosocial Skills in Adolescents

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01886911

Acronym

GWB

Enrollment

192

Registered

2013-06-26

Start date

2013-06-30

Completion date

2015-05-31

Last updated

2015-10-02

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Adolescent Behavior, Attentional Processing

Keywords

prosocial behavior, prosocial, attention training, attention, empathy, emotion recognition

Brief summary

This project is focused on the neural and behavioral correlates of two different videos games that will be used as training tools. The two video games, developed by the Games Learning Society research group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, are tailored to train mindfulness, particularly the regulation of attention; and prosocial behavior, especially sensitivity to others, in adolescents. This study will evaluate the hypothesis that systematic playing of mindfulness and prosocial games will change brain function in specific attentional, social and emotional circuits in potentially beneficial ways, and will impact performance on cognitive tasks of attention, and on measures of social cue perception and the propensity to share and behave altruistically. The investigators will employ behavioral and functional MRI-based neuroimaging measures to evaluate the investigators hypothesis.

Interventions

OTHERAttention Training Intervention Game

OTHERProsocial Training Intervention Game

OTHERControl for Attention Intervention

OTHERControl for Prosocial Intervention

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

12 Years to 15 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Fluent English speaker * Enrolled in 7th or 8th grade

Exclusion criteria

* Currently on psychotropic medications

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change from baseline in behavioral measures	baseline and up to 3 weeks	Change in behavioral measures before and after attentional video game training. Timeframe is up to 7 days following the end of the 2 week game playing period.
Change from baseline in fMRI	baseline and up to 3 weeks	Change in fMRI neural markers of empathic accuracy before and after attentional video game training. Timeframe is up to 7 days following the 2 week game playing period.

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026