ReFocus

NeuroImaging research indicates that depression is associated with

reduced activation in parts of the brain that regulate emotion, stress, ability to control

thoughts and responses to salient information (cognitive control). Increased activation in these brain regions is associated with improvement in symptoms of depression. In

people with depression, usually such increased activation occurs with antidepressant

treatments. However, emerging research in neuroscience claims that consistently

performing specific cognitive training tasks over a sustained time period can restructure brain connections involved in depression. The current app uses this research to adapt in-lab cognitive training tasks into simple games, which anyone can play, anytime, anywhere. The app has not yet been clinically tested, so the designers and developers do not make any claim with regard to its effectiveness.