About HomeTown Bound

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HomeTown Bound is a cognitive rehabilitation game that is played with a traditional computer, tablet or virtual reality (VR) headset. The game includes town/cityscapes (in three levels), people, and objects through which a patientnavigates as a (first-person) avatar. In addition to the 3D experience of moving through space, the game was designed to provide cognitive and sensory engagement through embedded selective attention (SA) “Process Testing” exercises. Game-centered SA exercises are key to targeting those regions of the brain related to focus, concentration, and memory for cognitively impaired patients. Traditional paper-based and digital (tablet) use of SA exercises has shown considerable success in supporting cognitive recovery, as stand-along interventions. 

Our gaming environment manages SA stimuli by directing the patient to focus and filter visual and auditory information through dichotic listening and shadow tasking. Each challenging SA exercise acts like a spotlight on a particular task within the patient's visual and auditory field. By recruiting executive function and processing speed, his non-invasive intervention promotes the ability of neurons to alter the functional properties of the brain by stimulating plastic change. Moreover, the game’s SA exercises target the strengthening of brain synapses. As the patient-player learns and adapts to each new cityscape environment, along with the embedded SA exercises, electrical signals assist in the release of neurotransmitters into the synapse.