TY - JOUR
T1 - Eye movement analysis and cognitive assessment
T2 - The use of comparative visual search tasks in a non-immersive vr application
AU - Rosa, Pedro J.
AU - Gamito, Pedro
AU - Oliveira, Jorge
AU - Morais, Diogo
AU - Pavlovic, Matthew
AU - Smyth, Olivia
AU - Maia, Inês
AU - Gomes, Tiago
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Schattauer 2017.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Background: An adequate behavioral response depends on attentional and mnesic processes. When these basic cognitive functions are impaired, the use of non-immersive Virtual Reality Applications (VRAs) can be a reliable technique for assessing the level of impairment. However, most non-immersive VRAs use indirect measures to make inferences about visual attention and mnesic processes (e.g., time to task completion, error rate). Objectives: To examine whether the eye movement analysis through eye tracking (ET) can be a reliable method to probe more effectively where and how attention is deployed and how it is linked with visual working memory during comparative visual search tasks (CVSTs) in non-immersive VRAs. Methods: The eye movements of 50 healthy participants were continuously recorded while CVSTs, selected from a set of cognitive tasks in the Systemic Lisbon Battery (SLB). Then a VRA designed to assess of cognitive impairments were randomly presented. Results: The total fixation duration, the number of visits in the areas of interest and in the interstimulus space, along with the total execution time was significantly different as a function of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that CVSTs in SLB, when combined with ET, can be a reliable and unobtrusive method for assessing cognitive abilities in healthy individuals, opening it to potential use in clinical samples.
AB - Background: An adequate behavioral response depends on attentional and mnesic processes. When these basic cognitive functions are impaired, the use of non-immersive Virtual Reality Applications (VRAs) can be a reliable technique for assessing the level of impairment. However, most non-immersive VRAs use indirect measures to make inferences about visual attention and mnesic processes (e.g., time to task completion, error rate). Objectives: To examine whether the eye movement analysis through eye tracking (ET) can be a reliable method to probe more effectively where and how attention is deployed and how it is linked with visual working memory during comparative visual search tasks (CVSTs) in non-immersive VRAs. Methods: The eye movements of 50 healthy participants were continuously recorded while CVSTs, selected from a set of cognitive tasks in the Systemic Lisbon Battery (SLB). Then a VRA designed to assess of cognitive impairments were randomly presented. Results: The total fixation duration, the number of visits in the areas of interest and in the interstimulus space, along with the total execution time was significantly different as a function of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that CVSTs in SLB, when combined with ET, can be a reliable and unobtrusive method for assessing cognitive abilities in healthy individuals, opening it to potential use in clinical samples.
KW - Attention
KW - Comparative visual search task
KW - Eye movements
KW - Memory
KW - Virtual reality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019239461&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3414/ME16-02-0006
DO - 10.3414/ME16-02-0006
M3 - Article
C2 - 27922659
AN - SCOPUS:85019239461
SN - 0026-1270
VL - 56
SP - 112
EP - 116
JO - Methods of Information in Medicine
JF - Methods of Information in Medicine
IS - 2
ER -