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2017 Games for Change Festival

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10:15am EDT

Keynote - How Unique are We? The New Neuroscience of Decision-making and Free Will with Moran Cerf

The neuroscience of our decision making and free will has been progressing in the last couple of years, offering us a new lens on what it means to be human, and allowing for new ways to think about the possibility of expanding human capabilities. This talk with shed light on the new developments and where we are heading with new technologies because of that.

Speakers

Moran Cerf

Professor, Kellogg School of Management

Moran is a professor of neuroscience and business (Kellogg and the department of Neurosurgery). Additionally, he is a visiting faculty the Media Lab, and the Sloan screenwriting Professor at AFI. Prior, he worked as a hacker for a decade. He holds multiple patents and his work has... Read More →

Monday July 31, 2017 10:15am - 10:45am EDT
Tishman Auditorium

Neurogaming & Health Keynote

11:00am EDT

Games and Game-based Simulations in Medical Professional Training

Games and game-based simulations have been used in medical professional training for well over a decade. More recently, the medical community has been turning to games to meet their skills assessment, continuing competency, and professional credentialing needs. This presentation will share four game-based assessment products targeting diverse health professionals’ needs: nurse educational skills assessment (vHealthCare), emergency department physician decision making skills assessment (Vital Signs), physician diagnostic interview skills assessment (USC Standard Patient Studio), and occupational therapy professional continuing competency certification (NBCOT Navigator). These applications will be demonstrated to illustrate how different game approaches are being employed to assess skills of medical professionals and drive a discussion of how games must be designed to address assessment versus learning needs. In addition, results of research and end-user feedback on the game-based assessments will be shared.

Speakers

Jenn McNamara

Vice President Serious Games, BreakAway Games

Jenn McNamara is Vice President of Serious Games and Strategic Partnerships at BreakAway Games. She leads a team creating game-based solutions that meet customers’ goals throughout the defense, homeland security, medical, corporate training, and human capital management communities... Read More →

Monday July 31, 2017 11:00am - 11:20am EDT
Room 105

Neurogaming & Health

11:00am EDT

Can Gaming Play Nicely with Pharma?

Joseph and Luc will discuss their pioneering journey to deliver one of the first medical therapies under prescription that combine games and life sciences. From development to FDA submission, they will address the challenges they faced and what both industries learned from working together in this “unorthodox marriage”. In this session you will learn about how a gaming and life science company commercialized a new medical breakthrough for the treatment of lazy eye.

Speakers

Joseph Koziak

CEO, Amblyotech Inc.

Joe’s background over the past 20 years covers the acquisition, development and commercialization of medical devices, diagnostic and pharmaceuticals. He has founded and created successful exit strategies for three startups. He has raised over $125 million in equity financing and... Read More →

Luc St-Onge

Associate Producer, Ubisoft

From a very young age, I've always been curious. I liked to deconstruct things to better understand them. That is still how I approach work today. Having worked in various fields such as Creative Writing, 3d animation, Game School manager, VFX, Architecture, lecturer and now Game... Read More →

Monday July 31, 2017 11:00am - 11:30am EDT
Tishman Auditorium

Neurogaming & Health

11:20am EDT

The Importance of Screwing Up: Improving Health Through Failure

Sometimes when we want to motivate a friend to change their behavior we end up saying unhelpful things like “it’s time you do something with your life.” In this session, we'll discuss how making those kinds of mistakes in a virtual role-play experience with virtual humans can teach people not to make them in real life. We'll show examples of how games can get people to use effective communication techniques to change lives.

Speakers

Seth Bleecker

Instructional Designer, Kognito

Seth is a writer, problem-solver, and designer of interactive experiences. Through his work at Kognito, he discovered that communication skills are teachable, learnable, and can improve many aspects of life. Since then he's designed over 20 simulations in an attempt to make the world... Read More →

Ron Goldman

Co-Founder & CEO, Kognito

Ron Goldman is an innovator, tech executive and social entrepreneur. Over the past decade, he has pioneered the use of gaming and simulation technology for learning and assessment experiences in health, behavioral health and education. Ron is the co-founder and CEO of Kognito, a health... Read More →

Monday July 31, 2017 11:20am - 11:40am EDT
Room 105

Neurogaming & Health

1:45pm EDT

The Promise of Brain Training Games

Imagine if you could see better, hear better, have improved memory, and even become more intelligent through training done on your own computer, smartphone, or tablet. I discuss recent research that begins to unlock this potential in the context of training vision and how to apply similar principles to achieve effective training for other cognitive abilities. I discuss the substantial potential of the field, current limitations, and paths to overcoming these limitations through on-going research.

Speakers

Aaron Seitz

UCR Brain Game Center for Mental Fitness and Well-being

Aaron Seitz is an internationally recognized expert on the mechanisms of learning and applies knowledge of brain plasticity to create brain-training video games that are effective in improving performance in real-world tasks. A notable example is his vision training game ULTIMEYES... Read More →

Monday July 31, 2017 1:45pm - 2:15pm EDT
Room 105

Neurogaming & Health

2:15pm EDT

Panel - Brain Training Games: Fact, Fiction, or Somewhere in Between?

The debate rages over the effectiveness of brain training games. Are they the secret sauce for a strong mind or just marketing hype? The real answer is somewhere in between. Dive into the reality of brain training games and come prepared with your own questions at this panel discussion.

Moderators

Amy Sterling

Executive Director, Eyewire

Amy Robinson Sterling is an expert in crowd sourcing. She is the Executive Director of EyeWire, a game to map the brain played by a quarter million people worldwide. Sterling is an international speaker and has advised The White House OSTP and US Congress. She is a leading catalyst... Read More →

Speakers

Aaron Seitz

UCR Brain Game Center for Mental Fitness and Well-being

Aaron Seitz is an internationally recognized expert on the mechanisms of learning and applies knowledge of brain plasticity to create brain-training video games that are effective in improving performance in real-world tasks. A notable example is his vision training game ULTIMEYES... Read More →

Lance Vikaros

Director of Game Systems Design, Lumosity

Lance Vikaros, Ed.D., has been designing, developing and teaching others how to build educational software since 1992, for groups like Scholastic, Lexia Learning, Intel, the MIT Media Lab and now Lumosity. Recently he completed an educational doctorate degree specialized in educational... Read More →

Monday July 31, 2017 2:15pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 105

Neurogaming & Health

5:15pm EDT

Keynote - 3 Big Things We Got Wrong: How Humans Decide; How to Change Minds; and How to Craft Narratives that Fire Neurons with Chris Graves

On the heels of his two totally sold out talks at SXSW, Christopher Graves takes us on a romp through historic, accidental discoveries that reveal what everyone working to change behavior should do differently to be more effective.

Speakers

Christopher Graves

President & Founder, Ogilvy Center for Behavioral Science

Christopher Graves was named President of the Ogilvy Center for Behavior Science in 2017 after serving 12 years as Global Chairman, Global CEO, and Regional (APAC) CEO for Ogilvy Public Relations. He also served as a member of the Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Board and Executive Committee... Read More →

Monday July 31, 2017 5:15pm - 5:45pm EDT
Tishman Auditorium

Neurogaming & Health Keynote

5:15pm EDT

A Neurogaming Poster Session with Engaged Learning Network

Poster session featuring 11 research projects from the Engaging Learning Network. Come view and discuss visually distilled neuroscience research relating to games, virtual reality and engagement. Meet with ELN working group researchers to get a briefing on the current state of the science. Refreshments will be served.

Monday July 31, 2017 5:15pm - 7:00pm EDT
Starr Foundation

Neurogaming & Health

11:00am EDT

Narrating Chronic Pain—Using Video Games to Tell Aspirational Stories

Serious, persuasive, and empathy games have all become synonymous with giving players opportunities to co-create alternative narrative spaces, gaining the ability to engage with stories that are challenging yet aspirational, enhancing experiential understandings and appreciations of real world experience through play. This talk discusses the science of narrative and how one can leverage the positive benefits of gaming to change and transform the stories we tell ourselves and other people.

Speakers

Rhonda Moore

Medical Anthropologist, US Department of Health and Human Services

Rhonda is a medical anthropologist and social scientist who combines anthropological methods, narrative, clinical neuroscience and gaming to better understand the experience and meaning of chronic pain and suffering in vulnerable populations. Rhonda received a Ph.D. in Cultural and... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 11:00am - 11:20am EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

11:45am EDT

The Power, Cost and Limits of Adaptivity in Neurogaming

Adaptivity promises a personal digital tutor for every device. It is at the heart of intelligent tutoring systems and found across neurogaming platforms. Adaptivity refers to how educational games and activities adapt their levelof challenge and personalized instruction to meet the changing educational needs of a player, as they play. This talk presents examples from Dr. Vikaros’s work with Lumosity, Agnitus and Lexia Learning to explain and compare different types of adaptive systems, while providing a summary of current research and a glimpse into the future of what is soon to come.

Speakers

Lance Vikaros

Director of Game Systems Design, Lumosity

Lance Vikaros, Ed.D., has been designing, developing and teaching others how to build educational software since 1992, for groups like Scholastic, Lexia Learning, Intel, the MIT Media Lab and now Lumosity. Recently he completed an educational doctorate degree specialized in educational... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 11:45am - 12:00pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

12:00pm EDT

An Active Learning Game for Better Sound Localization Using Augmented Reality (AR)

An active learning game has been developed to examine if a person can reduce localization errors from cognitive training using an augmented reality (AR) device. For each trial a user will indicate the perceived location of the target sound source, then the actual location will be shown along with the user’s estimated location. The training is in multiple difficulty levels. The presentation introduces technical details and the results from the on-going pilot study.

Speakers

Sungyoung Kim

Assistant Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology

SUNGYOUNG KIM IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL, COMPUTER, AND TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY AT RIT. His research interests include enjoyable auditory environment based on a multichannel audio system, virtual reality audio, auditory training, cross-cultural... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 12:00pm - 12:15pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

12:15pm EDT

From Proteins to Planets: The First Year of Project Discovery

Project Discovery is the first implementation of a new approach in citizen science - the seamless integration of real science and videogames. This is what we call Massively Multiplayer Online Science. Come and hear about how the players of EVE Online submitted 30 million classifications of protein locations and how they will discover the next exoplanet.

Speakers

Bergur Finnbogason

Senior Development Manager, CCP Games

After graduating from London Metropolitan University with a MA in Architecture of rapid change and scarce resources, Bergur went on a path to explore the possibility of architecture and urban planning in the digitally built world of World of Darkness. The aim was to build a familiar... Read More →

Attila Szantner

CEO & co-founder, Massively Multiplayer Online Science

Attila feels very lucky to have combined his two passions with Massively Multiplayer Online Science: citizen science and games. He is based in the beautiful small village of Gryon, Switzerland, where he founded MMOS with Bernard Revaz. For almost two decades, he has worked in IT in... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 12:15pm - 12:45pm EDT
Tishman Auditorium

Neurogaming & Health

1:45pm EDT

Government Grants for Health & Science Games

This talk will provide an overview of federal government funding opportunities for games development. Emphasis will be placed on addressing some of the most common challenges faced when developing biomedical and health research games, including partnering with biomedical researchers, recognizing and protecting private health information in a game, and navigating the grants submission process.

Speakers

David Miller

Program Director, National Institutes of Health

Dr. David Miller is a Program Director at the NIH’s National Cancer Institute where he manages a broad portfolio of biomedical software and computational modeling research grants in areas including data visualization, science games, interactive media, and crowdsourcing methodologies... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 1:45pm - 2:00pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

2:00pm EDT

Leveling Up Demographics: A Data Dive into Who Plays What Games and Why to Broaden Your Audience and Empower Your Impact

The fifty-year-old women sitting to your right on the train is probably playing a pretty different game than the fourteen-year-old on your left. Why? What can we learn from the diversity of play? Understanding how to build better experiences specifically for your audience is key to more inclusive design and reaching goals with your users. Tell us about how you play and learn how to create the ideal resonance for your audience.

Speakers

Marguerite Dibble

Founder / CEO, gametheory

Marguerite Dibble is the CEO of GameTheory, a company that uses game design toolkits and mindsets to tackle challenging real-world problems. GameTheory has worked to provide unique game-based solutions across healthcare, energy, and finance, creating products and techniques that exist... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 2:00pm - 2:15pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

2:15pm EDT

Improving Scientific Discovery Games with Data

Scientific Discovery Games have shown the potential of involving the general public in scientific research and contributed to scientific discoveries. One example is Foldit, a game where players can help scientists understand proteins. However, for these types of games, onboarding and retaining players often remains a challenge. In this talk, I will discuss work using gameplay data to evaluate design decisions and potentially improve aspects of games that are applied to solving real-world problems.

Speakers

Seth Cooper

Assistant Professor, Northeastern University

Seth Cooper is an Assistant Professor in the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University. He earned his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. Seth is interested in using video games to solve difficult real-world problems... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 2:15pm - 2:30pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

2:30pm EDT

VR Hacking:  from Innovation to Preservation

In this session, we discuss how the team at Isobar is fulfilling on the promise of VR, and it's implications on the education of future generations.

Speakers

Kevin-Ken Kempis

Creative Consultant / Professional Nerd, Isobar

As a creative technologist with a strong design background, Kevin leads day-to-day creative initiatives within the Isobar NYC office and the Isobar NowLab. Since age 11 he’s had his hand in print, motion/broadcast, digital, experiential and now VR/AR projects for brands such as... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 2:30pm - 2:45pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

4:00pm EDT

Xbox Fitness: A Success Story. How One Psychiatrist Used this Game to Lose and Maintain Significant Weight Loss

A psychiatrist used psychological principles and Xbox Fitness to lose over 60 pounds in 10 months and maintain most of this weight loss for years. His experience with this physically intense Kinect 2.0 game and data on the physical intensity and perceived exertion from hundreds of hours of active play of over 60 active video games will be presented. Suggestions will be made on incorporating lessons learned from this project into active virtual reality games.

Speakers

Paul Ballas

Founder, Tiro Enterprises, LLC

Paul Ballas is a board certified child and adult psychiatrist and founder of Tiro Enterprises, a start up company with a mission of developing user experience metrics for active and VR games. He has won awards and fellowships from the American Medical Association, the American Academy... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 4:00pm - 4:10pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

4:10pm EDT

How Uncertainty can be Used to Improve Learning

Game designers typically use uncertainty for heightening emotions or to reduce confusion.In this talk I will show how uncertainty can be used to influence learning. I will show how our brain works in world that revolves around uncertainty. In this world learning is needed to reduce uncertainty. I will present experiments that manipulate uncertainty and influence learning outcomes. This new lens suggests a different perspective on how games can be constructed to improve learning outcomes.

Speakers

Russell Cohen Hoffing

UC Riverside

Russell Cohen Hoffing is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Riverside. Here he works at the Brain Game Center devoting his time towards making a brain training games to improve self-control.

Tuesday August 1, 2017 4:10pm - 4:20pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

4:20pm EDT

Linking Rhythm Processing and Reading Development Young Children Using an Interactive Self-guided App

Some studies have reported a link between reading-related skills and musical rhythmic abilities, highlighting the potential of music-based intervention methods for reading development.

A tablet-based rhythm-assessment app was developed and deployed in kindergarten classrooms in New England with a battery of pre-literacy assessments. Results from over a hundred children indicate a significant positive association between rhythm discrimination and early literacy skills. The potential application of the app in cross-cultural and neuroscience research will be discussed.

Speakers

Ola Ozernov-Palchik

Tufts University

Ola Ozernov-Palchik, M.S., is a fourth-year doctoral student in the interdisciplinary cognitive science and applied child development program at Tufts University. Ola conducts research at MIT and Boston Children's Hospital on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of reading development... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 4:20pm - 4:30pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

4:30pm EDT

The 5 Rules of Virtual Humans

This talk will provide an overview of what game designers should consider when building and designing virtual humans for engagement in cognitive and health related games. The principles will be based on research in the areas of neuroscience and cognition and include elements such as realism of the VH, voice/tone, features such as memory/emotions/personality, and dialogue. Examples from the field (good and bad) will be provided.

Speakers

Vincent Thomasino

CTO, Kognito

Vince has always loved to build things -- from baubles to hardware and software. His passion for tinkering is the underpinning of his commitment to continuous innovation. At Kognito, Vince is applying that same desire to lead the company's technology strategy, bringing fresh ideas... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 4:30pm - 4:40pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

4:40pm EDT

Fit Brains: A Summary of Eight Years in Brain Training

Fit Brains has existed in a wide variety of forms throughout the years. From a flash portal, to the app store, to clinical studies. Maurice Grela will discuss its various forms and what they taught us about the overlap between neuroscience and serious games.

Speakers

Maurice Grela

Game Designer, Rosetta Stone (formerly)

Maurice Grela is a game developer who circulates between Toronto and Vancouver. His work experience includes game design, quality assurance testing, art direction, voice acting direction, technical art, research, and modding of existing games. He has explored a wide spectrum of game... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 4:40pm - 4:50pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health

4:50pm EDT

Exploring the Feasibility of Video Games for Cognitive Assessment

The session describes the authors ongoing research into the application of video games in cognitive assessment. The session will present the authors findings from developing a prototype that assesses working memory, language and critical thinking. A discussion will feature on the current availability of game design frameworks for mental health care. Finally, a potential direction to design video games for cognitive assessment will be presented to the audience.

Speakers

Michael Saiger

University of Strathclyde

Ba (Hon) in Games Design and Production Management. MPhil student in Digital Health and Wellness. With academic and industry experience I aim to research the development of games into new markets and genres. The current interest is the development of application for people with... Read More →

Tuesday August 1, 2017 4:50pm - 5:00pm EDT
Room 104

Neurogaming & Health