Open AccessSystemic Lisbon Battery: Normative Data for Memory and Attention Assessments
Author(s) -
Pedro Gamito,
Diogo Morais,
Jorge Oliveira,
Paulo Lopes,
Luís Felipe Picareli,
Marcelo Matias,
Sara Correia,
Rodrigo Brito
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
jmir rehabilitation and assistive technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2369-2529
DOI - 10.2196/rehab.4155
Subject(s) - normative , normality , cognition , psychology , matching (statistics) , task (project management) , activities of daily living , cognitive psychology , ecological validity , computer science , medicine , social psychology , psychiatry , engineering , philosophy , systems engineering , epistemology , pathology
Background Memory and attention are two cognitive domains pivotal for the performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). The assessment of these functions is still widely carried out with pencil-and-paper tests, which lack ecological validity. The evaluation of cognitive and memory functions while the patients are performing IADLs should contribute to the ecological validity of the evaluation process. Objective The objective of this study is to establish normative data from virtual reality (VR) IADLs designed to activate memory and attention functions. Methods A total of 243 non-clinical participants carried out a paper-and-pencil Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and performed 3 VR activities: art gallery visual matching task, supermarket shopping task, and memory fruit matching game. The data (execution time and errors, and money spent in the case of the supermarket activity) was automatically generated from the app. Results Outcomes were computed using non-parametric statistics, due to non-normality of distributions. Age, academic qualifications, and computer experience all had significant effects on most measures. Normative values for different levels of these measures were defined. Conclusions Age, academic qualifications, and computer experience should be taken into account while using our VR-based platform for cognitive assessment purposes.