Virtual reality as a new approach to assess cognitive decline in the elderly

Brain aging is a natural process that leads to a change in cognitive functions. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a condition in which a person has cognitive functions that are below normal for his age. However, these deficits are not pronounced enough to confirm for the diagnosis of dementia. It is therefore important to develop new ways to assess cognitive functions in the elderly. This would indeed lead to a better identification of the cognitive losses that are related to normal or pathological aging. The objective of this study was to investigate the relevance of virtual reality as a new evaluation approach in psychology. To do this, 10 elderly people with Mild Cognitive Impairment, and 20 elderly people without cognitive problems, were compared using tests of prospective memory that were presented in a traditional way and in virtual reality. The diagnosis of MCI was made using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Significant differences between the two groups were noted in virtual reality. Nevertheless, no difference was observed between the two groups with the traditional task. A significant positive correlation between the virtual reality task and the MoCA, but not between the traditional task and the MoCA, was observed. An evaluative approach based on virtual reality seems more sensitive to cognitive impairment associated with aging than an approach based on traditional neuropsychological tests.

The Effects of Wealth on Male Reproduction Among Monogamous Hunter-Fisher-Trappers in Northern Siberia

Variability in men’s reproductive success (RS) is partly attributable to the ability of successful men to influence resource flows relevant to the mate choice and reproduction of women. This study explores the effects of variability in resource flows on men’s RS in an indigenous foraging/mixed-economy community in northern Siberia where monogamous marriage norms predominate. A series of material, embodied, and relational wealth indicators are tested as predictors of men’s age-adjusted RS and age at first birth. Material wealth related to hunting, embodied wealth as represented by hunting skill, and relational wealth as represented by numbers of kin are the most consistent predictors of men’s RS. In this monogamous population, the wives of men with more hunting capital and of men rated as better hunters have shorter interbirth intervals, and hunters show strong producer priority. These findings and ethnographic observations appear more consistent with a provisioning model than with a signaling-for-mates model

Virtual reality as a screening tool for sports concussion in adolescents

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: There is controversy surrounding the cognitive effects of sports concussion. This study aimed to verify whether the technique of virtual reality could aid in the identification of attention and inhibition deficits in adolescents. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective design was used to assess 25 sports-concussed and 25 non-sports-concussed adolescents enrolled in a sport and education programme. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Participants were evaluated in immersive virtual reality via ClinicaVR: Classroom-CPT and in real life via the traditional VIGIL-CPT. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The neuropsychological assessment using virtual reality showed greater sensitivity to the subtle effects of sports concussion compared to the traditional test, which showed no difference between groups. The results also demonstrated that the sports concussion group reported more symptoms of cybersickness and more intense cybersickness than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Sports concussion was associated with subtle deficits in attention and inhibition. However, further studies are needed to support these results

3D Interaction Techniques for Virtual Shopping : design and preliminary study

Virtual Reality is now recognized as a powerful tool for the assessment and rehabilitation of both motor and cognitive impairments. In this context, effective Virtual Environments (VEs) that simulate everyday tasks must be proposed. We have developed a virtual supermarket (VS) in which the user can explore and collect various items using a shopping cart. Four interaction techniques have been designed and compared in terms of usability, performance and workload with healthy volunteer participants. These techniques go beyond the desktop paradigm by offering a more immersive and intuitive way of interaction. Results showed that participants were more efficient in terms of performance (completion time and travelled distance) using the game-pad rather than using full body gestures. However, they had more fun performing the task under these conditions

Time Distribution of Faculty Workload at Boise State University

This project’s first phase was to get a general idea of what the average work day looks like for a Boise State University faculty member; from this stage we developed activity definitions to use for the next phase. Thirty faculty members were interviewed by fourteen trained undergraduate research assistants over the course of two weeks on alternating days, April 9-21, 2013. These thirty faculty members represented all colleges of the Boise State University campus, including the Library, providing a total of 166 faculty days’ worth of data. The positions held by each participant ranged between an Assistant Professor and a Department Chair. The time diary method enabled students to document the type and duration of activities, functions, locations, and presence or absence of other types of individuals. Data on general work patterns and activities of BSU faculty are presented and broken out by day of week, type of activity, function, and location. These findings indicate that faculty work more than expected and in a wide range of activities and they work alone much of the time

Virtual reality and neuropsychological assessment: The reliability of a virtual kitchen to assess daily-life activities in victims of traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes impairments affecting instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). However, few studies have considered virtual reality as an ecologically valid tool for the assessment of IADL in patients who have sustained a TBI. The main objective of the present study was to examine the use of the Nonimmersive Virtual Coffee Task (NI-VCT) for IADL assessment in patients with TBI. We analyzed the performance of 19 adults suffering from TBI and 19 healthy controls (HCs) in the real and virtual tasks of making coffee with a coffee machine, as well as in global IQ and executive functions. Patients performed worse than HCs on both real and virtual tasks and on all tests of executive functions. Correlation analyses revealed that NI-VCT scores were related to scores on the real task. Moreover, regression analyses demonstrated that performance on NI-VCT matched real-task performance. Our results support the idea that the virtual kitchen is a valid tool for IADL assessment in patients who have sustained a TBI

Detecting everyday action deficits in Alzheimer’s disease using a non-immersive virtual reality kitchen

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) causes impairments affecting instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Transdisciplinary research in neuropsychology and virtual reality has fostered the development of ecologically valid virtual tools for the assessment of IADL, using simulations of real life activities. Few studies have examined the benefits of this approach in AD patients. Our aim was to examine the utility of a non-immersive virtual coffee task (NI-VCT) for assessment of IADL in these patients. We focus on the assessment results obtained from a group of 24 AD patients on a task designed to assess their ability to prepare a virtual cup of coffee, using a virtual coffee machine. We compared performance on the virtual task to an identical daily living task involving the actual preparation of a cup of coffee, as well as to global cognitive, executive, and caregiver-reported IADL functioning. Relative to 32 comparable, healthy elderly (HE) controls, AD patients performed worse than HE controls on all tasks. Correlation analyses revealed that NI-VCT measures were related to all other neuropsychological measures. Moreover, regression analyses demonstrated that performance on the NI-VCT predicted actual task performance and caregiver-reported IADL functioning. Our results provide initial support for the utility of our virtual kitchen for assessment of IADL in AD patients. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–10