Meditation

Meditation is the lowering of awareness of external stimulus to promote internal focus and attention.  It also allows the brain to exclude unwanted thoughts and promote calmness.  Obviously when you are learning the technique of effective meditation, it is important to begin in a quiet and low stimulus environment. There are a number of apps that teach meditation concepts, or can be used during a meditation session.


"Smiling Mind" (free) is a meditation app designed by psychologists.  It is based on research that shows meditation mindfulness (the ability to pay attention to the present moment) can help manage stress, improve attention and increase resilience.  It has three levels of session times from 5 minutes to longer periods.  If your not sure it will suit you, have a go at the 5 minute trial session "Exploring Breath".  A voice guides you through the sessions.  It therefore requires a person to have adequate hearing and the ability to understand directions.


"Line Art" (free) uses music and visual stimulation to promote relaxation and potentially a meditative effect.  It does not require instructions.  Thousands of tiny particles change colours and pattern shapes as you touch the screen.  The pattern shapes vary depending on how many fingers you use to touch the screen.  If you are planning on using four or five fingers, make sure you turn off the "Multi-tasking Gestures" in settings, to prevent the screen from moving to other apps.  Repetitive touching of the screen can produce a meditative effect.  Slow breathing can also be incorporated during the session if desired. 


My next post will discuss the importance of constantly connecting with nature for the older person.

Virtual Reality and Older People

Virtual Surround Games are being developed to create an immersive 360 degree effect.  Once again a physical component is being added to enhance cognitive stimulation.  Their design elicits a distributed attention (multitasking, divided attention) effect, in a multidimensional space.

I have not had the opportunity to use virtual reality technology with my clients, but as the price of this type of equipment comes down and choices in games increase, I predict they will start being used in the near future.

However, their is a way of creating a graduated attention distribution effect in any environment.  For individuals with significant attention problems, it is best to start interaction with touchscreen games in a quiet, low stimulus environment.  Over time as they become more familiar with the activity and their performance improves you can add another stimulus.  This might be background music, a change of environment, or small groups to larger groups.  Constantly reassess a person's progress to select the best environment for each individual.

My next post will be on meditation.

Rhythm and Cognitive Stimulation

Offering rhythmic, repeated activities such as drumming may facilitate improvements in attention.  'You've got Rhythm' (free) teaches rhythm and how to play drums.  There are, choices of congas, bongos and African drums.  When playing the 'LearnNPlay' section the drum will light up when hit at the right times.  There are beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, although I found the beginner section quite hard enough!

The drum 'Game' section is more difficult to manage, so I would advise practising the 'LearnNPlay' before attempting the games.

For an easier app using rhythm, you could try 'Magic Piano' (free).  You can select a song and then tap music 'balls' as they travel down the screen.  To hear the song, you tap the sound icon on the left of the song name.  To play the music by touching the music balls, tap the name of the song and there are choices of easy, medium, hard.  Once again I have found 'easy' to be hard enough.  Start by selecting some easier songs such as 'Amazing Grace' or 'Minuet'.

Next post will be about Virtual Surround games.

 You've Got Rhythm

An Example of Multitasking with a Physical Component

'Air Hockey' (free) is a very popular game in the app store.  Each player has a mallet (round play disc) and has to keep the puck out of their goal.  It can be set at one or two player.  As a two player game it has the benefit of a social and interactive component and the level of difficulty depends on the skill of the players.  When it is set on one player there is a choice of 6 different levels of difficulty, so it can be graded to a persons ability.  For both one and two player, you can select 2 pucks instead of one, which increases the multitasking component.


Adding the physical component depends on the physical ability of an individual.  For sitting balance you might have them sitting in a chair without armrests, or sitting at arms length from the table.  I have used it as a standing balance activity with either one hand resting on the table or for more advanced exercise, one hand behind their back.  The level of supervision required depends on a persons assessed balance ability.


Below are a series of photos demonstrating the different possible positions that can be used.


My next post will on rhythm and cognitive stimulation!


  Demonstrating the game


  Having a go in sitting (chair with no armrests)


  Standing with left hand resting on table


  Having fun with left arm behind the back!

Combining Physical and Cognitive Activity

What attributes of touchscreen games might help maximise cognitive stimulation?

Professor Gazzaley's research found that games which included a multitasking component achieved greater effects on the brain than individual tasks.  He stated the science also clearly shows that physical exercise benefits cognitive activity (music to my physiotherapy ears!)

He then postulated that combining physical activity and cognitively stimulating apps may produce an overall enhanced cognitively stimulating effect.

It is interesting that my recent previous posts had been discussing this very principle!  Anecdotally I have found this concept to hold true.  Whenever I use an app and add a physical component, often the individual has an increased attention span and engages in the activity for a longer period.

My next post will give an example of an app I have used in this way.

Technology and Dementia Conference September 2014

"The Dementia and Technology: A Game Changer" conference was run by Alzheimer's Australia.  It provided some thought provoking content.  My next few posts will be on the variety of presentations and what it means for older people now and into the future!

Professor Adam Gazzaley is the director of Neuroscience Imaging Centre, Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at the University of California , San Francisco, USA.  His current research looks at how we can enhance our cognitive abilities using custom-designed video games.  His overall goal is to improve quality of life in both healthy and impaired individuals.

His work included the development of a video game "Neuroracer" which was responsive to each users individual performance.  The game included multitasking performance of car racing and identification of shapes and colours along the course.  His work demonstrated the importance of the multitasking component for stimulating aspects of cognition.  His research found sustained benefits in both attention span and working memory.

Through the work of Neuroscape Lab he is now researching the development of touchscreen and virtual reality games that combine our understanding of emerging technologies and neuroscience.  All very exciting.  Have a look at www.neuroscapelab.com/

Professor Gazzaley's research includes 5 areas of cognitive stimulation.  I'll discuss these in the next post.

In the meantime I found this news piece from the Wall Street Journal with Professor Gazzaley talking about his research.