Abstract
The aim of the study was to examine the effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) and Video Games (VG) as cognitive training tools in community dwelling older adults. A total of 19 older adults aged from 65 to 79 years comprised the sample of the study. According to the intervention program they were submitted to, participants were separated into two groups. The first one was trained using an adaptation of virtual reality platform (FitForAll), developed to train specific cognitive functions (n = 10). Contrary to the above the second group was trained in a go-kart-style video game (Super Mario Kart) on the Wii console (n = 9). There wasn’t significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, gender and educational level. In both groups the intervention consisted of 18 sessions of about 40’ each, over a six-week period (3 times per week). Specific cognitive functions and state affect were measured before and immediately after training, as well as one month after the intervention. The findings revealed participants’ improved performance in executive functions, after being trained in both intervention programs. However, it has been observed that the participants trained using VG had been better at maintaining their improved performance even after the end of the intervention program. VG also seemed to enhance in the long term participants’ positive affect.
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Bapka, V. et al. (2018). Brain Plasticity in Older Adults: Could It Be Better Enhanced by Cognitive Training via an Adaptation of the Virtual Reality Platform FitForAll or via a Commercial Video Game?. In: Auer, M., Tsiatsos, T. (eds) Interactive Mobile Communication Technologies and Learning. IMCL 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 725. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75175-7_72
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