A brain stimulating phone app developed to improve concentration has been found to enhance attention skills so significantly its effects have been compared to prescription medication.

The brain training app, called Decoder, was developed by a research team from the Department of Psychiatry at the prestigious University of Cambridge in the UK.

In testing its effectiveness, the team worked with 75 young and healthy adult participants for a trial period of four weeks, where each took a test every morning and night to measure their concentration skills.

As part of the trial, participants were divided into three groups, with one asked to play the Decoder game, another asked to play Bingo, and the other told not to play anything.

People in the first two groups played their games during eight one-hour sessions over the course of the four-week trial period, each session under the supervision of researchers.

Researchers found participants who played the Decoder game demonstrated better attention skills than both the participants who had played Bingo and those who had played no game at all.

The game delivered results researchers stated were “significant” and comparable to the effects of medication doctors prescribed for the treatment of attention-impairing conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The team has reported its results in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, and you can read more about the study here.