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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. ADHD
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1407703
This article is part of the Research Topic Digital Technologies for Screening, Diagnosing, and Treating ADHD and Related Disorders View all 9 articles

Assessment of Executive Functions Using a 3D-Video Game in Children and Adolescents with ADHD

Provisionally accepted
Nagahide Takahashi Nagahide Takahashi 1*Tomihiro Ono Tomihiro Ono 2Yuka Omori Yuka Omori 3Misuzu Iizumi Misuzu Iizumi 4Hidekazu Kato Hidekazu Kato 4Shinichi Kasuno Shinichi Kasuno 2Kenji J. Tsuchiya Kenji J. Tsuchiya 5
  • 1 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Nagoya University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
  • 2 Almaprsim. Inc, Kyoto, Japan
  • 3 Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
  • 4 Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
  • 5 Hamamatsu University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Executive functions are important factors that affect the well-being of children with ADHD. Therefore, inclusion of a convenient aAssessment of executive dysfunction in diagnosis and treatment of ADHD patients is warranted. However, executive dysfunction assessment presently relies on lab-based neuropsychological tests and symptom rating scales. The present study examined the potential of a 3-D action puzzle video game to reflect ecologically valid executive functioning in pediatric ADHD patients. Methods: Participant gameplay metrics were compared to both their Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and Conners 3 Parent Form's executive functioning subscale scores. Participants consisted of 33 ADHD and non-ADHD patients aged 8-21. Results: Metrics from gameplay were associated with distinct CANTAB test scores, and a composite score from gameplay was significantly correlated with executive dysfunction from Conners 3. Conclusion: For children with ADHD, cognitive domains related to executive function and overall real-life executive functioning appear to both be measurable via video games. It may be possible to develop individualized behavioral therapy based on the quantitative data obtained from the video game used in this study.

    Keywords: ADHD, video game, Executive Function, Ecological Validity, cognitive ability

    Received: 27 Mar 2024; Accepted: 01 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Takahashi, Ono, Omori, Iizumi, Kato, Kasuno and Tsuchiya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nagahide Takahashi, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Nagoya University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.