Preliminary validation of CCRacer serious game for assessing executive function after acquired brain injury

Vidačić, Maja (author), Mlinarič Lešnik, Vesna (author), Politakis, Vida Ana (author), Podlesek, Anja (author), Čižman Štaba, Urša (author)

Acquired brain injuries can profoundly impact executive functioning, yet traditional neuropsychological assessments often have limitations, such as being time-intensive, lacking ecological validity, or failing to engage patients effectively. To address these challenges, CCRacer, a serious game, was developed as a novel tool for assessing executive functions in clinical populations. This study evaluated the convergent and discriminant validity of CCRacer by applying it alongside established neuropsychological tests to a sample of 78 participants with acquired brain injury. Results revealed varying levels of convergent validity across tasks, with stronger correlations for measures of working memory (0.28–0.51) and planning (−0.46 to 0.34) and weaker correlations for inhibitory control (0.22). These findings suggest that CCRacer has the potential as a complementary tool in the neuropsychological assessment of an acquired brain injury, combining engaging and ecologically valid testing with the possibility of future use in cognitive training.

• Language: English
• Keywords: brain injury, cognitive control, executive function, neuropsychological assessment
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Author Accepted Manuscript
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 78-82
• Numbering: Vol. 48, iss. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-182243
• UDC: 159.95
• ISSN on article: 1473-5660
• DOI: 10.1097/mrr.0000000000000657
• COBISS.SI-ID: 226684675
• Publication date in RUL: 05.05.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of rehabilitation research
• Shortened title: Int. j. rehabil. res.
• Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• ISSN: 1473-5660
• COBISS.SI-ID: 18050838

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: možganske poškodbe, kognitivni nadzor, izvršilne funkcije, nevropsihološka ocena

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0110
• Name: Psihološki in nevroznanstveni vidiki kognicije