NeuroForest

INVESTIGATING LINKS BETWEEN ATTENTION AND FORAGING STRATEGIES

Discover project

Fighting For ADHD Appreciation

Exploration

The act of searching for the purpose of discovery of information or resources. For example, probing the searching area for new discoveries instead of focusing on a single spot.

ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, or excessive activity and impulsivity. Diagnostic criteria from the DSM-V describe ADHD as a set of inabilities to function as neurotypical people. However, it fails to value common positive traits and abilities of people with ADHD - creativity, spontaneity, astounding problem-solving skills, hyperfocus and incredible amounts of energy, among others.

Exploitation

The use of natural resources for an individual or a community's interests. For example, looking for items similar to those already in stock.

The Project

Our serious game

We believe that individuals with ADHD have foraging strategies that strongly differ from those of neurotypical individuals, thus showing effective problem-solving strategies and providing innovation.

To understand the influence of attention disorders on exploration / exploitation strategies, we created a serious game immersing the player in a realistic environment. The player is assigned with a simple task - that of collecting as many mushrooms as possible in a limited time and space frame. By varying parameters such as mushroom repartition or distraction levels, we wish to study attention fluctuations and describe working conditions in which individuals with ADHD are working at their fullest potential.

We are leading our cognitive experiment on a small non-clinical sample before moving on to more significant clinical data. With sufficient data, our study could switch mentalities on a bigger scale around what is considered as a disability but could be valued as an asset and a part of natural neurodiversity.

Presentation Video

A Research Intensive Cluster

Download Game

Linux

macOS

Windows

The Team

Arthur

Second year French student at École Polytechnique. In charge of website and game development.

Frédéric

Third year French student at École 42. In charge of game development.

Emilia

Second year French and Polish student at École Polytechnique. In charge of experimental design and mathematical modelisation. Project manager.

Hamza

Second year French student at École Polytechnique. In charge of communication and experiments.

Roland

Second year French student at École Polytechnique. In charge of game design and experiments.

Tatiana

Second year Russian student at École Polytechnique. In charge of mathematical modelisation and result analysis. Super python debugger.