Video game training in traumatic brain injury patients: an exploratory case report study using eye tracking

Remediation of attentional impairments is an essential component of cognitive rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Evidence from healthy participants has demonstrated attentional improvement following playing an action video game. This exploratory study investigated its application in TBI participants in a multiple baselines single case experimental design (SCED). Saccadic eye movements, recognized as the visible indicators of visual attention, were assessed to evaluate the effectiveness of the game training. Three severe TBI participants were trained in an action game for 10 hours. Saccadic eye movements during a self-paced saccade and an abstract visual search task were investigated during baseline, mid training and post-training. Using Percentage of Non-overlapping Data (PND), analysis showed consistent increase in the rate of the self-paced saccades in participants 1 (PND=80%) and 2 (PND=70%). In abstract search, fixation duration showed a minimally effective decrease for participant 2 (PND= 60%) and a moderately effective reduction in participant 3 (PND= 80%). Search time showed a highly effective reduction in participant 2 (PND = 100%) and moderately effective decrease in participant 3 (PND=70%). Overall, video game training might modify allocation of attention in eye movements. More evidence is required to validate the usefulness of this novel method of the cognitive training.