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Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman

Performance-based functional tests for the evaluation of daily living activities demonstrate strong psychometric properties and solve many of the limitations associated with self- and informant-report questionnaires. Virtual reality (VR) technology, which has gained interest as an effective medium f...

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Autores principales: Chirico, Andrea, Giovannetti, Tania, Neroni, Pietro, Simone, Stephanie, Gallo, Luigi, Galli, Federica, Giancamilli, Francesco, Predazzi, Marco, Lucidi, Fabio, De Pietro, Giuseppe, Giordano, Antonio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029745/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32116928
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00123
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author Chirico, Andrea
Giovannetti, Tania
Neroni, Pietro
Simone, Stephanie
Gallo, Luigi
Galli, Federica
Giancamilli, Francesco
Predazzi, Marco
Lucidi, Fabio
De Pietro, Giuseppe
Giordano, Antonio
author_facet Chirico, Andrea
Giovannetti, Tania
Neroni, Pietro
Simone, Stephanie
Gallo, Luigi
Galli, Federica
Giancamilli, Francesco
Predazzi, Marco
Lucidi, Fabio
De Pietro, Giuseppe
Giordano, Antonio
author_sort Chirico, Andrea
collection PubMed
description Performance-based functional tests for the evaluation of daily living activities demonstrate strong psychometric properties and solve many of the limitations associated with self- and informant-report questionnaires. Virtual reality (VR) technology, which has gained interest as an effective medium for administering interventions in the context of healthcare, has the potential to minimize the time-demands associated with the administration and scoring of performance-based assessments. To date, efforts to develop VR systems for assessment of everyday function in older adults generally have relied on non-immersive systems. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of an immersive VR environment for the assessment of everyday function in older adults. We present a detailed case report of an elderly woman who performed an everyday activity in an immersive VR context (Virtual Reality Action Test) with two different types of interaction devices (controller vs. sensor). VR performance was compared to performance of the same task with real objects outside of the VR system (Real Action Test). Comparisons were made on several dimensions, including (1) quality of task performance (e.g., order of task steps, errors, use and speed of hand movements); (2) subjective impression (e.g., attitudes), and (3) physiological markers of stress. Subjective impressions of performance with the different controllers also were compared for presence, cybersickness, and usability. Results showed that the participant was capable of using controllers and sensors to manipulate objects in a purposeful and goal-directed manner in the immersive VR paradigm. She performed the everyday task similarly across all conditions. She reported no cybersickness and even indicated that interactions in the VR environment were pleasant and relaxing. Thus, immersive VR is a feasible approach for function assessment even with older adults who might have very limited computer experience, no prior VR exposure, average educational experiences, and mild cognitive difficulties. Because of inherent limitations of single case reports (e.g., unknown generalizability, potential practice effects, etc.), group studies are needed to establish the full psychometric properties of the Virtual Reality Action Test.
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spelling pubmed-70297452020-02-28 Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman Chirico, Andrea Giovannetti, Tania Neroni, Pietro Simone, Stephanie Gallo, Luigi Galli, Federica Giancamilli, Francesco Predazzi, Marco Lucidi, Fabio De Pietro, Giuseppe Giordano, Antonio Front Psychol Psychology Performance-based functional tests for the evaluation of daily living activities demonstrate strong psychometric properties and solve many of the limitations associated with self- and informant-report questionnaires. Virtual reality (VR) technology, which has gained interest as an effective medium for administering interventions in the context of healthcare, has the potential to minimize the time-demands associated with the administration and scoring of performance-based assessments. To date, efforts to develop VR systems for assessment of everyday function in older adults generally have relied on non-immersive systems. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of an immersive VR environment for the assessment of everyday function in older adults. We present a detailed case report of an elderly woman who performed an everyday activity in an immersive VR context (Virtual Reality Action Test) with two different types of interaction devices (controller vs. sensor). VR performance was compared to performance of the same task with real objects outside of the VR system (Real Action Test). Comparisons were made on several dimensions, including (1) quality of task performance (e.g., order of task steps, errors, use and speed of hand movements); (2) subjective impression (e.g., attitudes), and (3) physiological markers of stress. Subjective impressions of performance with the different controllers also were compared for presence, cybersickness, and usability. Results showed that the participant was capable of using controllers and sensors to manipulate objects in a purposeful and goal-directed manner in the immersive VR paradigm. She performed the everyday task similarly across all conditions. She reported no cybersickness and even indicated that interactions in the VR environment were pleasant and relaxing. Thus, immersive VR is a feasible approach for function assessment even with older adults who might have very limited computer experience, no prior VR exposure, average educational experiences, and mild cognitive difficulties. Because of inherent limitations of single case reports (e.g., unknown generalizability, potential practice effects, etc.), group studies are needed to establish the full psychometric properties of the Virtual Reality Action Test. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-02-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7029745/ /pubmed/32116928 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00123 Text en Copyright © 2020 Chirico, Giovannetti, Neroni, Simone, Gallo, Galli, Giancamilli, Predazzi, Lucidi, De Pietro and Giordano. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Chirico, Andrea
Giovannetti, Tania
Neroni, Pietro
Simone, Stephanie
Gallo, Luigi
Galli, Federica
Giancamilli, Francesco
Predazzi, Marco
Lucidi, Fabio
De Pietro, Giuseppe
Giordano, Antonio
Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman
title Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman
title_full Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman
title_fullStr Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman
title_full_unstemmed Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman
title_short Virtual Reality for the Assessment of Everyday Cognitive Functions in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the Virtual Reality Action Test and Two Interaction Devices in a 91-Year-Old Woman
title_sort virtual reality for the assessment of everyday cognitive functions in older adults: an evaluation of the virtual reality action test and two interaction devices in a 91-year-old woman
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7029745/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32116928
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00123
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