Have you ever been stuck in a meeting where your eyes glazed over — then suddenly noticed that everyone was looking at you? Your boss just asked you a question — and you didn’t hear a word? Ever find yourself staring at a memo on the computer screen, only to realize you that just spent the last five minutes reliving last night’s basketball game?

If so, East3 Ltd.’s "Attention Trainer" might be for you. Coupling a NASA-developed biofeedback technique with a wireless headset that transmits brain-wave data to your PC, East3 is selling an affordable attention-training system that you can use at home. The first product is geared towards kids whose inability to concentrate is affecting their schoolwork. But the Richmond-based firm is adapting the technology for the sports- and executive-training markets as well.

As a magazine publisher, I continually face interruptions and distractions. Figuring I could use all the help I could get, I accepted East3’s invitation to give its Attention Trainer a trial run. I took a seat at a testing station in its Fan office building while Chief Technology Officer Jeff Segal ran me through my paces.

As Segal got me ready for my session, which includes wearing "A Clockwork Orange" style headgear, he explained that attention training is available today, but only in inconvenient clinical settings. East3 hopes to expand the market for the training by offering a regimen that people can follow at home. The new frontier in bolstering sports performance is mental, Segal says. Likewise, he expects a market to emerge for executives and professionals who want to maximize their productivity at work. Eventually, he says, the business will mature to the point where people can hire personal attention trainers to work their mental muscles like they hire fitness trainers to develop their physical prowess.

Segal was talking my kind of language. Focus, productivity, performance. That’s what I wanted. Even after 47 years, it still wasn’t too late to begin bulking up the ol’ brain. In the world of mental prowess, I could be the bully kicking sand in the face of the skinny guy on the beach.

For the first test, Segal told me to stare at the computer screen, watching a series of letters flash by. Whenever I saw a combination of an "A" followed by an "X," I was supposed to hit the space bar. If I had "impulsivity issues" — in other words, if I had a tendency to leap before I look — I might hit the space bar prematurely, Segal explained. If I was easily distracted, by contrast, my reaction times would be varied and slow.

The letters flickered by for 15 minutes. I managed to maintain my concentration without letting my mind wander much. The result: a perfect score. But Segal wasn’t impressed. All that meant, he said, was that I didn’t have any obvious problems.

Next, we moved to a test that’s available only to those who purchase The Attention Trainer system, including headset, receptor, software and three video games, for $899. The headset monitors four types of brain waves - Alpha, Beta, Theta and Sensory Motor Response (SMR) — which are associated, respectively, with a person’s state of relaxation, distractibility or drowsiness, problem-solving ability, and muscle control. By interacting with games on the computer screen, you manipulate your brain waves to create a pattern associated with maximum mental focus. The better you are at achieving the optimal pattern, the better you perform.

The first game is a simple little program called Breakaway Racer. With a helmet on your head and hands in your lap, you watch the computer in front of you. When the game starts, a little man on a bicycle starts peddling. As you achieve the optimal brain-wave pattern, he zooms around the track. If you sustain a decent pace for 30 seconds, the cyclist crosses the finish line.

Segal clicked the start button. The bicycle racer began moving in fits and starts, lunging ahead then slowing down. Soon I got the feel of it. Look, ma, no hands! Before I knew it, the little guy was flying. First time out, I completed the course in 32 seconds. Pretty good, said Segal.

Hmm. This was fun. I ran my little racer around the track again and again, then competed against a cyclist controlled by the computer. I beat the computer and kept driving down my time. After a dozen races, I logged a 23-second lap — not quite flawless, but almost. "Yes!" I blurted as I punched the air. "I’m in the zone, baby, I’m in the zone."

"Pretty competitive, aren’t you?" asked Segal. It was one of the best scores he’d seen — pretty darn good for the first day of training. That was high praise coming from the East3 CTO, who is known around the company as the Lance Armstrong of Breakaway Racer.

"Aw, shucks," I said. After a lifetime of tuning out the wife, the kids, the pets, the television, the VCR and the telephone, it was nothing.

A quick analysis of my performance on Breakaway Racer suggested that I had little trouble filtering out distractions or establishing a state of relaxation. For the next level of training, Segal suggested, I would benefit most by focusing on my Beta waves, which are associated with problem solving. The program could be easily adjusted to make the little cyclist more responsive to Beta wave readings. To move the cyclist now, I would have to fine-tune this particular mental pattern. Also, as I progressed, The Attention Trainer would ratchet up the intensity of concentration required to play the games successfully.

Though still in its infancy, East3 is developing key partnerships and products needed to expand the market. In January it cut a deal with game developer Hasbro Interactive to put its biofeedback technology into at least two Hasbro games. The brightly colored, space-helmet headset is designed for kids, not businessmen. A sleeker executive model is forthcoming eventually. So is video programming that should have greater appeal to adults than little men on bikes and monsters on skate boards. But if you just can’t wait to start buffing up those Beta waves, you can go to www.attention.com and order your Attention Trainer right now. While waiting for it to arrive, you can take the first test free. Just download the testing tool and start clicking!