Our Research: Re-Mission™ Attitudes Study in the Brain

fMRI Scan
This is your brain on Re-Mission™

Question: How does playing Re-Mission change real-life behavior?

HopeLab is using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to analyze the brain regions that are activated when people play Re-Mission. The goal of these studies is to determine which brain processes are activated by game play, and identify which of those processes affects real-life behavior outside of the laboratory.

Study Design

Approximately 50 healthy young adults were randomized to play Re-Mission for 30 minutes (active condition), or to passively observe the video and audio information generated by another person’s game play (passive control condition). Neural activity is measured by fMRI during game play, and analyses relate regional brain activation to measures of game performance, emotional state, cancer-related attitudes and behavior.

The colored spots appear where brain regions are activated by Re-Mission.

Collaborating Investigator

Brian Knutson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Brian studies brain processes involved in emotion (”affective neuroscience”) and pioneered the field of “neuro-economics” in a series of studies utilizing fMRI to understand the effects of motivation on learning, preference and judgment in the context of monetary loss and gain.

Status

Data collection ongoing, with preliminary results expected in 2008.