The BlockQuest Game: Digital Behavioral Phenotyping of ADHD Using Embodied Serious Game in Virtual Reality

Children with Attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit higher levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity compared to their typically developing peers, impacting their daily functioning. To characterize the effects of ADHD, traditional research methodologies have predominantly used an outcome-oriented approach—scoring at which ages children solve particular problems compared to typically developing children. However, such an approach neglects how children solve tasks and overlooks how perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes unfold from moment to moment during problem solving. Recent research attempted to address this knowledge gap using computerized gamification of tasks. However, most gamified paradigms are stationary and overlook the aspect of locomotion and embodiment, which are strongly related to daily functioning. Here, we argue that the effects of ADHD on daily living should be characterized through the use of virtual reality as a modernized embodied tool that provides digital behavioral phenotyping of ADHD. We present a novel embodied block-construction serious game paradigm in virtual reality that links ADHD characteristics and the real-time interaction between perception, cognition, and movement.