Roles: Game Designer, Programmer

Release Date: 2020
Genres: VR, Brain Trainning (Serious Gaming)
Company: Virtuleap

Platforms: SideQuest, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, Viveport, Steam, Pico VR, Alcove VR


About Whack-A-Mole:
Virtuleap offers a catalog of brain training games, through Enhance VR (its proprietary distribution platform and performance tracker), that test and train various cognitive functions.
Whack-A-Mole is part of that catalog was designed to train the player’s sustained attention skills.

Cognitive Science Background:
This game is reversed-engineered to be compliant with the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT). In the PVT, the subjects are asked to respond as fast as possible to an appearing stimulus with a motor action. For instance, performing a keypress when a red circle appears on the screen, which is shown at random intervals for a short period of time. Thus, the PVT measures the reaction time (speed) of the participants. 

About Enhance VR:
“Enhance is a distribution platform that offers a library of VR brain training games that test and train various cognitive skills.
“Research demonstrates that VR engages multiple learning systems, which makes it more effective and natural environment for cognitive training than 2D screen-based brain training apps.
“Virtuleap combines neuroscience and virtual reality to help increase attention levels, and address cognitive illnesses, disorders, and learning challenges.
“We are working with leading institutions across the U.S. and Europe, like the VA Health Care System and the Pacific Brain Health Center, to validate their solution as an effective assessment and treatment for attention deficit and cognitive decline.”