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Published on: March 10, 2021
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Using virtual reality-based neurocognitive testing and eye tracking to study naturalistic cognitive-motor performance
Meytal Wilf1, Alona Korakin2, Yotam Bahat3
1Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation, Sheba Medical Center, Israel; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Neuropsychologia
|December 10, 2023
Summary
This study used virtual reality to assess cognitive-motor skills in older adults. Cognitive load significantly impacted performance and pupil size, suggesting a new way to profile abilities.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Natural human behavior integrates cognitive and motor functions.
- Traditional cognitive assessments occur in artificial settings, isolating these domains.
- There's a need for naturalistic evaluations of cognitive-motor performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess cognitive-motor task performance in a naturalistic virtual reality (VR) setting.
- To differentiate the contributions of cognitive and motor components to task outcomes.
- To investigate the relationship between cognitive-motor performance, pupil size, and clinical factors in older adults.
Main Methods:
- Developed a VR adaptation of the Color Trails Test (VR-CTT) for executive function assessment.
- Recorded motor, eye-tracking, and pupil size data during task performance.
- Manipulated cognitive and motor demands by altering task conditions (e.g., eye-only tracking, reduced cognitive load).
Main Results:
- Reduced cognitive demands led to greater improvements in completion times than reduced motor demands.
- Higher cognitive load correlated with increased target search time, decreased movement velocity, and poorer head-hand coordination.
- Larger pupil sizes were observed under higher cognitive load, with an inverse correlation between pupil size and task completion time.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive load is a primary determinant of cognitive-motor performance and pupil responses in this VR paradigm.
- The VR-CTT effectively distinguishes between cognitive and motor contributions to performance.
- This VR approach offers a promising tool for detailed profiling of cognitive-motor capabilities in older adults and at-risk populations.
