About a decade ago, Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD, became frustrated with studying and reporting what he calls “the bad news”: how our brains change as we get older, making us more sensitive to the pitfalls of distraction and multitasking. The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) cognitive neuroscientist began seeking a novel approach to improve these areas of cognitive control, starting in older adults.
That’s how NeuroRacer was born. The video game–like therapy he developed forced the brain to multitask in an ever-evolving challenge—mental gymnastics that he hypothesized would translate into improved attention and working memory.