Perceptual-Cognitive Training After a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Towards a Sensitive Marker for Recovery

A predetermined number of spheres (eight) are presented in the 3D-MOT task. The spheres are all identical in shape and color. Before each trial, four spheres are highlighted, and then returned to their original color. Participants will be asked to track those four spheres for the duration of the trial (8 seconds). Spheres will be moving, bouncing, colliding, until they finally stop moving and the participant has to identify the spheres that were initially highlighted. Previous work with healthy individuals has shown that the minimum optimal number of sessions (3 blocks) necessary to induce brain plasticity and enhance other, "non-trained" brain functions is between 5-6. The training protocol will therefore include 6 sessions (3 blocks each), at intervals of 48 to 72 hours, over a maximum of 3 weeks.

The visual attention intervention will consist of the 2048 game, a single-player sliding block puzzle game of which the objective is to slide numbered tiles on a grid to combine them to create number 2048. 2048 is played on a gray 4×4 grid, with numbered tiles that slide smoothly when a player moves them using the four arrow keys. Every turn, a new tile will randomly appear in an empty spot on the board with a value of either 2 or 4.Tiles slide as far as possible in the chosen direction until they are stopped by either another tile or the edge of the grid. If two tiles of the same number collide while moving, they will merge into a tile with the total value of the two tiles that collided. Higher-scoring tiles emit a soft glow. Children will play for a time equivalent to that of the 3D-MOT.