Minds Refined: Research

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Minds Refined creates computer games specifically designed to enhance cognitive control, the ability to flexibly implement goal-driven thought and behavior in the face of distraction. Cognitive control has emerged as a central topic in the cognitive and neuroscience literatures as it is thought to underlie a number of fundamental abilities including working memory, long-term memory, attentional flexibility, and high-level judgment and decision making.

Minds Refined builds games that target cognitive control by weaving scientifically-tested training principles into the fabric of each game. Art Dealer, for example, uses the following three training principles that research has shown to be effective in enhancing cognitive control:

First, performance is trained under conditions of interference such that trainees are required to override automatic, habitual responses in order to exercise and strengthen more cognitively-controlled responses.
Second, cognitive control is 'shaped' by ensuring that trainees master easy levels of difficulty before being challenged by more difficult levels.
Third, stimuli are changed across training sessions to avoid the build up of inflexible stimulus-response associations.

The above three principles have been used in non-game training studies to increase memory and attention abilties in older adults. Minds Refined goes further, however, by embedding these principles into games that are interesting and engaging. By making the training process fun, we believe we can increase the effectiveness of training by reducing anxiety, increasing a person's motivation to train, and increasing the time spent exercising relevant cognitive skills. All three of these factors have been shown to enhance cognitive performance.

Minds Refined is currently involved in research designed both to assess the training potential of our games, and to develop new training principles that can be incorporated into future games and game updates. We are also constantly reviewing the scientific literature to identify better ways to train cognitive control. Our goal is to combine the latest advances in cognitive training with fresh game ideas that can improve and enrich the lives of older adults.


Philosophy By making the process fun, we believe we can increase the effectiveness of training by reducing performance anxiety, increasing the motivation to train, and increasing the time spent exercising relevant cognitive skills. - Jeffrey Toth, Ph.D. & founder of Minds Refined