Steve Lambert,

Editor (Tech)

 

BOSTON – Researchers in a hospital in Boston, America have concluded a study into a video game to help children with anger management issues. RAGE Control uses machinery that takes note of a child’s heart rate and if it goes over a certain limit then the child will be unable to continue playing. The aim of the study is to force the children to remain calm in order to succeed.

37 children, aged 9 to 17, were studied by Doctors Jason Kahn and Joseph Gonzalez-Heydrich over a five day period at the Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Split into two groups, both were given the same anger management treatment, involving relaxation exercises, but the second group had 15 minutes of play time on RAGE Control afterwards. Researchers found that on average the second group were much better at keeping calm that their counterparts, who had not played the game.

It is hoped that the children who play this game will be able to remain calm in other life situations as well, and new tests have gone underway to see whether this will be effective for children in the home environment.