Design process and preliminary psychometric study of a video game to detect cognitive impairment in senior adults

PeerJ

article

Sonia Valladares-Rodriguez¹  Roberto Perez-Rodriguez¹  David Facal²  Manuel J. Fernandez-Iglesias¹  Luis Anido-Rifon¹  Marcos Mouriño-Garcia¹ 

[1] School of Telecommunication Engineering, University of Vigo;Department of Developmental Psychology, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

关键词: Digital game;    Episodic memory assessment;    Early detection of alzheimer and mild cognitive impairment;    Ecological neuropsychological evaluation;    Validity;    Psychometric properties;    Usability;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.3508

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionAssessment of episodic memory has been traditionally used to evaluate potential cognitive impairments in senior adults. Typically, episodic memory evaluation is based on personal interviews and pen-and-paper tests. This article presents the design, development and a preliminary validation of a novel digital game to assess episodic memory intended to overcome the limitations of traditional methods, such as the cost of its administration, its intrusive character, the lack of early detection capabilities, the lack of ecological validity, the learning effect and the existence of confounding factors.Materials and MethodsOur proposal is based on the gamification of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and it has been designed to comply with the psychometric characteristics of reliability and validity. Two qualitative focus groups and a first pilot experiment were carried out to validate the proposal.ResultsA more ecological, non-intrusive and better administrable tool to perform cognitive assessment was developed. Initial evidence from the focus groups and pilot experiment confirmed the developed game’s usability and offered promising results insofar its psychometric validity is concerned. Moreover, the potential of this game for the cognitive classification of senior adults was confirmed, and administration time is dramatically reduced with respect to pen-and-paper tests.LimitationsAdditional research is needed to improve the resolution of the game for the identification of specific cognitive impairments, as well as to achieve a complete validation of the psychometric properties of the digital game.ConclusionInitial evidence show that serious games can be used as an instrument to assess the cognitive status of senior adults, and even to predict the onset of mild cognitive impairments or Alzheimer’s disease.

【 授权许可】

CC BY