Researchers create video game that monitors heart rate to keep children’s anger in check
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Nintendo may have left its Vitality Sensor by the wayside, but researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital are using heart rate monitoring in a video game to teach children with anger issues how to temper their emotions. Dubbed RAGE (Regulate and Gain Emotional) Control, the game tasks players with blasting hostile spaceships while keeping their heart rate from exceeding a predefined limit. If a gamer’s pulse rises above the ceiling, they’ll lose the ability to shoot until they can ease their pulse back down. A group of 18 kids who received standard treatments and played the game for five, 15-minute-long sessions had better control of their heart rate and lower anger levels than a group that only used traditional treatments. Currently, a controlled clinical trial of RAGE Control is underway and there are plans to take the concept a step further with toys and games suited for younger children. Look out below for the full press release or tap the second source link for the team’s paper in the Journal of Adolescent Psychiatry.
[Image credit: Thirteen of Clubs, Flickr]
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Researchers create video game that monitors heart rate to keep children’s anger in check originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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When it comes to medical devices such as hearing aids and heart rate monitors, most folks who use them would prefer a more discreet design, although some folks do not mind the world to know that they are wearing one. For folks who are not too comfortable divulging their medical condition to the general public, or want a trendy looking heart rate monitor during your workouts, the Pulse heart rate monitor will consist of a ring as well as an iPhone app which will work in tandem in order to keep track of your beating heart.
