SBIR Phase I: Hacking Eye Movements to Improve Attention

这个SBIR第一阶段项目寻求将一套凝视驱动的训练游戏商业化，这些游戏旨在训练注意力定向、焦点和抑制控制。这些电子游戏是用眼睛玩的，而不是用鼠标或触摸屏。通过将凝视驱动的方面与嵌入式训练原则相结合，这些游戏在训练注意力方面独一无二地有效。注意力是一种基本的认知技能，对学术成功至关重要，就像阅读是学习其他学科的基础一样。拟议的项目将为小学和中学建立一个独立的系统，用于特殊教育和标准教育计划，以培训注意力集中困难儿童的注意力控制。本产品特别适用于患有自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)和注意力缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)的儿童，因为他们的学习成绩受到注意力挑战的影响。该项目的一个关键技术创新是开发了一套评估，提供与经过验证的实验室注意力评估一样的对学生表现的反馈。游戏中的评估将根据实验室标准进行验证。在这个项目结束时，作为SBIR第二阶段项目的一部分，这套干预和评估游戏将准备好在学校环境中进行测试。注意力技能是认知控制和一个人成功课堂学习的能力的基础，但现有的实验室工具可以准确地测量注意力的许多方面，这是第一线的教师和教育工作者无法达到的。这个SBIR第一阶段项目通过创建易于使用的评估任务来创新注意力评估的标准方法，这些评估任务吸引了学龄儿童的注意，其有效性将与黄金标准的实验室评估进行比较。这将使注意力功能的准确评估更加可靠，即使在没有评估专家在场的情况下也是如此，这个项目为注意力训练游戏打开了市场，这些游戏可以显示公正的、定量的改进。这项创新将广泛适用于让广泛的个人评估注意力，但这个特定的项目寻求将实验室质量的注意力干预游戏商业化，供学校的教育工作者使用，提供一套以交错评估和培训为特色的软件套件。这种方法将为学校工作人员提供反馈，并确保下一步的注意力训练适合学习者当前的技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This SBIR Phase I project seeks to commercialize a suite of gaze-driven training games that are designed to train attention orienting, focus, and inhibitory control. These video games are played with one's eyes, instead of a mouse or a touchscreen. By combining the gaze-driven aspect with embedded training principles, the games are uniquely effective in training attention. Attention is a foundational cognitive skill that is essential for academic success, much like reading is foundational to learning other subjects. The proposed project will result in a stand-alone system for elementary and middle schools to use in both special education and standard education programs for training attention control in children with attentional focus challenges. This product is particularly applicable for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), because their academic performance suffers from their attentional challenges. A key technical innovation for this project is the development of a suite of assessments that provide feedback on student performance on par with validated laboratory assessments of attention. The in-game assessments will be validated against the laboratory standards. At the end of this project, the suite of intervention and assessment games will be ready to deploy for testing in school settings as part of a SBIR Phase II project.Attention skill lies at the foundation of cognitive control and one's ability to scaffold successful classroom learning, yet existing laboratory tools to accurately measure attention's many facets are out of reach of the teachers and educators on the frontlines. This SBIR Phase I project brings innovation to the standard methods of attention assessment by creating easy to use assessment tasks that attract the attention of school children and whose validity will be compared to gold-standard lab assessments. This will make accurate assessment of attentional function more reliable even when delivered without an assessment expert present, and this project opens the market for attention training games that can show unbiased, quantitative improvement. This innovation will be broadly useful to allow a wide range of individuals to assess attention, but this specific project seeks to commercialize lab-quality attention intervention games for use by educators in schools with a software suite featuring interleaved assessment and training. This approach will provide feedback for school staff as well as ensure that the next steps in attention training are appropriate for the learner's current skill.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.