Smart Aging Platform for Evaluating Cognitive Functions in Aging: A Comparison with the MoCA in a Normal Population

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Digital Health

Background:

• Smart Aging is a serious games (SGs) platform utilizing a 3D virtual environment for cognitive skill screening.
• The platform features 5 tasks simulating daily life activities to assess cognitive abilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare cognitive evaluations from the Smart Aging platform with a traditional screening test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
• To determine the validity of Smart Aging in assessing cognitive functions in healthy older adults.

Main Methods:

• 1,131 healthy adults aged 50-80 participated, undergoing cognitive evaluation using both MoCA and Smart Aging.
• Participants were categorized into three groups based on MoCA scores (global and domain-specific).
• Differences in Smart Aging performance indices were analyzed across these MoCA-defined groups.

Main Results:

• 1,086 older adults completed the study.
• Significant differences (p < 0.001) were observed in Smart Aging accuracy and task completion time across MoCA score groups.
• Lower MoCA scores correlated with slower performance and lower accuracy in Smart Aging tasks, particularly those assessing memory and executive functions.

Conclusions:

• The Smart Aging platform demonstrates validity for assessing cognitive functions in normal aging.
• The platform shows promise as a proxy for evaluating memory, executive functions, working memory, and visual-spatial processing.
• Future research will focus on validating Smart Aging in clinical aging populations.