Requirements for Game Based Cognitive Intervention System for Acquired Brain Injury

Abstract

Brain damage resulting from acquired brain injury is a leading cause of long term disability. The damage ranges from cognitive impairments such as attention, concentration, memory, and executive function deficits, to motor disabilities that can significantly affect survivors’ quality of life and limit their ability to perform everyday tasks. The use of serious games to augment cognitive and/or physical rehabilitation offers benefits that are not generally available in conventional rehabilitation methods. In this paper we discussed game design principles which are relevant to brain damage rehabilitation and presented several prototypes used for cognitive rehabilitation. We conducted a four-week study using these games in one of the Gaza, Palestine rehabilitation centers. The objective was to identify the potentials and requirements for using serious games as a solution to the conventional rehabilitation problems. Problems with conventional rehabilitation include boredom due to its repetitive nature and insufficiency due to limited human resources and facilities. We designed and evaluated our game prototypes and presented results which are the requirements of game-based therapeutic system or what makes games useful from a therapeutic view.