Virtual Shopping: Acceptance of Immersive Virtual Reality in The Diagnostic of Memory Deficit in Elderly
Abstrakt
Memory decline represents a major cognitive problem associated with various neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders and physiological aging. A drawback of classic neuropsychological diagnostic and remediation tools, often applying pencil-paper approach, is the lack of ecological validity.
Virtual reality represents a useful tool linking simulation of real world environments with precise control of stimuli and detailed behavioural recording. VR is typically presented in a less immersive form as a desktop application, or with more advanced technologies such as the headmounted displays (HMDs).
Both alternatives have certain pros and cons, but the role of immersion for the diagnostic and/or therapeutic use and acceptance of these alternatives in elderly is still unknown. In this pilot study, 32 cognitively healthy seniors performed in the virtual Supermarket Shopping Task (vSST), focused on declarative memory assessment, using both platforms (desktop and HMD) in a counterbalanced order.
We compared their results in terms of cognitive performance and subjectively evaluated usability of the applied device. According to the preliminary results, the participants performed worse in terms of memory recall using HMD and the application usability did not differ significantly between the two platforms.