Video game could help improve people with schizophrenia

According to tests conducted on a small number of patients who played the game over four weeks,improvements in memory and learning were found.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have said a computer-based brain-training game could improve the daily lives of people with schizophrenia.

According to tests conducted on a small number of patients who played the game over four weeks,improvements in memory and learning were found.

The game which was designed and developed by researchers at Cambridge with the help of patients, has a wizard theme with various levels of difficulty and asks players to enter rooms, find items in boxes and remember where they put them, testing their so-called episodic memory.

Prof Barbara Sahakian, from the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge said patients who played it made significantly fewer errors in tests afterwards on their memory and brain functioning.

Sahakian who researched the impact of the game added that this was an indication that they were better prepared to function in the real world.

She added that the memory game could help where drugs had so far failed - with no side-effects, moreso because the game is interesting thus spurring patients with  a general lack of motivation.

The research team however said more research was needed on larger groups of patients to confirm the findings.

Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that causes a range of psychological symptoms, from behaviour changes to hallucinations.

Many patients also experience cognition problems, which affect their memory and ability to function independently.