The Brain Games Study: Preventing adolescent mental illness through brain training
April 2016
Staff:
NDARC:
Dr Louise Mewton, Professor Maree Teesson
Other investigators:
Antoinette Hodge, Westmead Children’s Hospital
Nicola Gates, University of NSW
Project description:
The Brain Games Study is a randomised controlled trial of 16-17 year old adolescents. The study aims to determine whether online cognitive training exercises (“brain games”) can reduce the incidence of risky behaviours, anxiety and negative emotions associated with the future development of mental illness and substance misuse in adolescents. Research shows that certain personality characteristics, such as impulsivity and hopelessness, reliably predict the future incidence of mental illness and substance misuse in adolescents. The current project will target adolescents displaying risky levels of these personality characteristics and determine whether an intensive online brain games program can have an effect on these characteristics, ultimately reducing the likelihood of these adolescents developing a mental illness in the future.
Further details of the study can be accessed at https://thebraingames.org.au/
Funded in part by an Australian Rotary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Brain Sciences Seed Funding grant.
