MindGames probably has one of the most qualified teams behind any app in the “Games” category in the app store. Of MindGames’ six founders, one is an assistant professor of artificial intelligence with a doctorate from MIT, another is a master’s degree holder in neurophysiology of habit learning from MIT, and another is a software developer for mobile phone platforms with 12 years of experience.
By gamifying concentration, players have the incentive to become good at controlling their states of mind when they need to – a useful skill which they can transfer over to real life. In a Youtube video CEO Deepa Iyengar does say it is a good way for children and adults to learn to direct their energies in productive ways. Currently 5.2 million children in the U.S. are thought to meet the diagnostic criteria for Attention Deficit Disorder, and a game like this could help teach prolonged concentration.
CEO Iyengar does hint at such a future where these types of games could be put into more serious practice by commenting, “This game is a first step toward our development of clinically effective mind training games. Such games could be used by psychologists and psychiatrists in medical centers to train people who have problems with attention.”
Here’s a video demonstrating the game: