At Cogleap, we believe personalized support starts with understanding. Our Virtual Classroom Attention Tracker (vCAT®) provides structured performance information that can help families and qualified professionals better understand attention patterns in a simulated classroom setting.
Our vCAT® gives families and qualified professionals structured information about how a participant responds to tasks and distractions in a simulated classroom environment. This groundbreaking tool provides an objective, engaging way for us to understand your child’s attention patterns in a realistic setting.
How vCAT® Works
Using immersive virtual reality technology, vCAT® creates a classroom environment that feels real to your child.
During the 13-minute evaluation, we observe three key aspects:
Focus
How your child maintains their attention on a designated important task/s
Self-Control
Your child’s ability to manage responses to these various distractions
Physical Steadiness
How well your child is able to regulate their physical movements
Just like in a real classroom, your child will experience various distractions—visual, auditory, and combined—while they try to focus on attention-based tasks.
The vCAT™ Advantage: Going Beyond Traditional Assessments
Our virtual reality assessment offers unique benefits traditional tests can’t match:
The Science Behind vCAT®
See how the Virtual Classroom Attention Tracker (vCAT®) measures multiple dimensions of attention.
vCAT® assesses challenges to attention including hyperactivity, inattention, impulsivity, and distractibility. It combines standardized testing with high-resolution time-stamped head movement data measured while the user interacts inside an immersive VR classroom environment.
A detailed and individualized report is automatically produced with performance metrics that are compared with age and gender group normative data. Our large normative database, consisting of hundreds of children across the age span, provides an objective standard for systematically interpreting your child’s performance across multiple dimensions of attention.
Real-World Insights
Observe how your child manages their attention span in a realistic classroom setting.
The vCAT® Advantage:
Going Beyond Traditional Testing
Our virtual reality tracker offers unique benefits traditional tests can’t match:
Real-World Insights
Observe how your child manages their attention span in a realistic classroom setting.
Objective Measurements & Data
An engaging, easy-to-use experience that provides precise, measurable information regarding your child’s attention processes, self-control, and physical steadiness.
Scientific Backing
Developed by leading experts and specialists in VR healthcare and clinicians specializing in children’s brain health (read more about this at https://www.vcatfocus.com/science).
Comprehensive View
Understand your child’s attention patterns across different situations.
Objective Measurements & Data
An engaging, easy-to-use experience that provides our therapists with precise, measurable information regarding your child’s attention processes, hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity.
Scientific Backing
Developed by leading experts and specialists in VR healthcare and clinicians specializing in children’s brain health (read more about this at https://www.vcatfocus.com/science).
Comprehensive View
Understand your child’s attention patterns across different situations.
Questions About vCAT®
vCAT® is an advanced immersive virtual reality system for measuring attention and self-control, combining VR technology with multi-dimensional real-time data tracking. Based on years of scientific research, vCAT® uses normative data to objectively measure attention, impulse control, and hyperactivity. Using machine learning algorithms, vCAT® compares the individual’s performance with age- and gender-matched norms, quickly generating a comprehensive performance report. Attention, impulse control, hyperactivity, and psychomotor regulation are major challenges for neurodiverse children and can affect their focus, academic performance, compliance, and social-emotional skills. The precise measurement provided by vCAT® serves as an objective and scientific reference for developing personalized plans for the children.
The vCAT® Virtual Reality Attention and Self-Control System was co-developed under the leadership of Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, Director of Medical Virtual Reality at the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) at the University of Southern California (USC), an internationally recognized expert in digital health and psychology. The system is based on over 20 years of scientific research, using normative data to ensure high sensitivity in measuring attention, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and psychomotor control across different age and gender groups. vCAT® is widely used in hospitals, clinics, and schools worldwide, providing a convenient, accurate, and objective tool for measuring attention, self-control, and impulsive and hyperactive behaviors in both clinical and educational settings.
The complete vCAT® process includes an instruction phase, a familiarization phase in the virtual classroom environment, a practice phase, and the formal measurement phase, all completed within 20 minutes. The formal measurement phase itself takes only 13 minutes. A detailed report is automatically generated within minutes after the process is over. Trained technicians oversee and guide the entire process, ensuring the child understands and feels comfortable with the environment and tasks. Parents do not need to accompany their child during the process.
vCAT® uses a 13-minute Continuous Performance Test (CPT) to monitor and record the individual’s motor performance, head and hand movement paths, gaze range, reaction time, accuracy, and stability. It primarily measures sustained and active attention levels, impulse control, and impulsive and hyperactive behaviors.
vCAT® enhances traditional attention testing with virtual reality technology, offering a more engaging and accurate experience. Compared to the long and monotonous traditional methods, it has several key advantages:
Testing Environment: vCAT® uses VR technology to create a highly immersive environment, simulating real-world scenarios that better reflect how the individual’s attention functions in everyday life.
Interactivity: Through interactive VR scenarios, vCAT® requires the individual to respond in a dynamic environment. The test features varied distractions to simulate multi-tasking settings, measuring active attention and impulse control.
Testing Precision: Using VR technology to track head and hand movements, reaction times, and other multi-dimensional data, vCAT® can detect subtle behaviors like minor hyperactivity or impulsive reactions, improving the accuracy of measurements.
Report Generation: vCAT® generates two versions of a report within minutes after the test: a standard version for professionals and a detailed explanatory version for parents, making the results clear and actionable for different users.
Test Experience and Duration: The 13-minute VR session is engaging and realistic, reducing resistance and/or fatigue compared to traditional methods.
Scope: vCAT® measure not only sustained attention but also active attention, impulse control, and hyperactive behaviors, which are more relevant to everyday performance.
The vCAT® report uses real-time monitoring of the child’s motor performance, reaction times, and attention metrics to measure their focus, self-control, and impulsive or hyperactive behaviors. It includes statistics on head and hand movement paths and gaze range, providing a comprehensive understanding of the child’s attention and behavioral characteristics.
