Cognitive Stimulation of Elderly Individuals with Instrumental Virtual Reality-Based Activities of Daily Life: Pre-Post Treatment Study

Pedro Gamito, Jorge Oliveira, Diogo Morais, Cátia Coelho, Nuno Santos, Catarina Alves, Ana Galamba, Miguel Soeiro, Madhurrima Yerra, Hannan French, Lily Talmers, Tiago Gomes, Rodrigo Brito

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As the demographic structure in western societies ages, the prevalence and impact of cognitive decline rises. Thus, new solutions to tackle this problem are required. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based cognitive exercises has emerged in the last few decades, though with inconsistent results. Hence, we conducted a pre-post treatment study to further investigate this approach. We designed a set of virtual reality exercises that mimic activities of daily living by which the patient can train different cognitive domains. Twenty-five participants, ages 65-85, underwent 12 training sessions between the pre-treatment and post-treatment assessments. Significant increases were seen between the two assessments for some of the neuropsychological measures: visual memory, attention, and cognitive flexibility. Results also suggest that participants with lower baseline cognitive performance levels improved most after these sessions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)69-75
Number of pages7
JournalCyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
Volume22
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Keywords

  • Cognitive stimulation
  • Elderly
  • Serious games
  • Virtual reality

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