Research library

The useful field of view task measures how much a person takes in at one glance, center and edge together. This game adapts that center-plus-periphery design.

In the ACTIVE trial, speed-of-processing training improved the trained ability in older adults, and the gains were still measurable two years later.

A 10-year ACTIVE follow-up associated speed training with about 29% lower dementia risk in older adults. That is one study's association, not a claim for this game.

Corsi block-tapping measures spatial span: how many locations a person can hold and then reproduce. Batik Matrix uses the same show, hold, recall structure.

Baddeley and Hitch proposed the multicomponent model of working memory, which later included a visuospatial sketchpad for holding locations and images.

A meta-analysis found working memory training gives short-term, task-specific gains that did not generalize, so this game is offered as skill practice only.

The flanker task shows that nearby conflicting items slow responses to a central target. Here canoes replace letters, and matching or opposing fleets create the conflict.

The Attention Network Test scores executive attention as the gap between incongruent and congruent flanker trials, the same "flanker cost" this game reports.

Task-switching research measures the "switch cost," the extra time people need when the rule changes. Dual Harmony reports each player's own switch cost.

Rogers and Monsell used a stimulus's screen position to signal which task to do. The game's garden-or-court placement follows that cue-by-location design.

Bicultural individuals shift cultural frames in response to cues, a finding that informs the game's framing of flexibility as a bicultural strength.

Naming a word's ink color is slower when the word names a different color. That interference is the core of Level 1.

A review of 50 years of studies found Stroop interference highly reliable, making it a standard measure of resisting an automatic response.

In the emotional Stroop, emotionally loaded words can slow color naming. Level 2 uses this design and reports a "heavy-word cost."

Multiple-object tracking studies show people can follow several moving targets at once, within limits. Banyan Branches asks players to track several moving drops.

Multiple resource theory explains how workload rises as tasks compete for the same attention. Level 2 adds knots, colors and simultaneous drops in steps.

Kirchner's task asks whether each item matches one shown steps earlier, which requires constantly updating memory. It is the basis of today's n-back.

A meta-analysis of 24 neuroimaging studies found n-back tasks consistently engage frontal and parietal brain regions linked to working memory.

N-back training transfers mainly to other n-back tasks, with very small effects beyond, so this game is offered as near-transfer practice.

Shallice's Tower of London measures planning: reaching a goal in a limited number of moves by working out the sequence before acting.

A major review found training improves the trained tasks but rarely transfers to distant skills, so Monsoon Canal is offered as planning practice only.

Beck described recurring distortions in depressed thinking, the basis of cognitive therapy's practice of noticing and re-examining unhelpful thoughts.

A review of meta-analyses found strong support for CBT, especially for anxiety and stress. This game borrows CBT's thought labels but is not therapy.

A pilot trial found AWARE, a culturally tailored, trauma-informed group program for young Asian American women, feasible and safe. The game draws on its cultural themes only.

Reviews link working memory to math performance, since holding numbers while calculating draws on it. Level 2 adds tabs to remember across orders.

In a national survey, incarcerated adults averaged 220 in numeracy versus 255 for adults in households, showing a real need for practice.

RAND's meta-analysis found correctional education participants had 43% lower odds of returning to prison. This game supplements, and does not replace, education programs.