Issues for the Assessment of Visuospatial Skills in Older Adults Using Virtual Environment Technology

Abstract

Virtual Environment (VE) technology offers clinical assessment and rehabilitation options that are currently not available using traditional neuropsychological methods. Advancements in this type of immersive information technology could produce tools that enhance the scientific study of human cognitive/functional processes and improve our capacity to more accurately assess and treat impairments found in persons with central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. Through the creation of dynamic three-dimensional (3D) stimulus environments, in which all behavioral responding can be recorded, VE technology offers the possibility to more sensitively address a range of age-related CNS disorders including Alzheimer's Disease, Vascular Dementia, Parkinson's Disease, and stroke. Advances in this area could impact quality of life issues for an increasingly aging world population. The VE Laboratory at the University of Southern California has developed a suite of ImmersaDesk-format, 3D projection-based VEs. These scenarios target assessment of visuospatial skills including visual field-specific reaction time, depth perception, 3D field dependency (virtual rod and frame test), static and dynamic manual target tracking in 3D space, and spatial rotation. The current project tested healthy older adults (ages of 65 and 92). Participants were administered a standard neuropsychological battery and a suite of VE-delivered visuospatial tasks. Issues addressed in this project include: the occurrence of VE-related side effects in healthy older adults; the relationship between performance on VE measures and standard neuropsychological tests; the assessment of gender specific performance differences; the relationship between immersive tendencies, presence ratings, and VE performance in older adults; learning and generalization; and VE visuospatial performance differences between younger and older participants. This article will address the motivation, rationale, and relevant issues for use of VEs with older adults. A description of our VE system/methodology in the context of a recent study targeting assessment and possible rehabilitation of visuospatial skills with this population will then be detailed.