3 191 IN-GAME PLAY BEHAVIOURS PREDICT IMPROVEMENTS IN ANXIETY APPENDIX A Description of the Video Game MindLight MindLight incorporates three evidence-based techniques (i.e., relaxation, exposure, attention bias modification) to teach children how to cope with anxiety in a playful manner (see Table 1). To trigger real feelings of anxiety and to practice regulating these feelings, the game is set in grandma’s dark and decrepit mansion. Little Arty (the player) is left on the doorstep of grandma’s mansion that has been taken over by evil forces. It is his task to save grandma who succumbed to shadows. In the house Arty finds a magical headset (Teru) and together they can save grandma. However, the player needs to overcome his fears by using his own mind. Teru teaches how to use this “mindlight”, a beam of light at the end of an antenna attached to the magical hat which players need to play through the game. Arty’s mindlight responds to the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals that the MindWave headset, a one-channel dry-sensor EEG headset the player is wearing, picks up. The headset detects and converts EEG signals (i.e., relative beta power and relative alpha power) into two continuous data streams representing relaxation and focused attention. These data streams are fed into the game (i.e., neurofeedback training) and control Arty’s mindlight and “mindbeam”. The strengths of the mindlight and mindbeam are proportional to the strength of the relaxation and focused attention signals, respectively. Being more relaxed and focused makes it possible to effectively engage with the objects and evidencebased game mechanics in the game. When the player becomes more relaxed the mindlight will become stronger, providing more light inside the game environment which makes it easier to get through the game. When exposed to fear events, children need their mindlight to chase away or “decloak” these monsters. Some fear events that are decloaked will turn into a friendly kitten that will remind the player of past fears conquered. More focused attention leads to a stronger mindbeam, which is needed to unlock hiding spaces, turn on ceiling lights and to solve attention bias modification puzzles in which the child learns and is rewarded for focusing on positive faces rather than on negative faces. The goal in MindLight is to save grandma by completing all puzzles, which will turn the lights back on in the house. To solve a puzzle, coins have to be found first to unlock the puzzle. Every puzzle requires a predetermined amount of coins (i.e., from 3 up to 7 coins) that corresponds to the number of faces in the puzzle. The amount of coins reflects the difficulty of the puzzle; a puzzle with more coins requires more effort than a puzzle with less coins because in the puzzle with more coins the positive face has to be distinguished from more negative faces.
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