Technologies for remote assessment of cognitive and functional abilities: from the lab to the real world

Background: Methodologies that allow for the remote assessment of cognition during real-life tasks are experiencing a rapid growth. However, many barriers still preclude their wide use. We need to better understand if such methodologies are equally reliable when used in the lab and at home. There is a paucity of research confirming the cognitive underpinnings of performance during traditional and more naturalistic assessments given online. Furthermore, the views that those expected to benefit from such developments hold regarding these new modalities of assessment needs to be considered. I report on a series of studies carried out to explore these outstanding issues.

Methods: Study 1 involved a group of healthy adults (n=33, Age=24-76) who were assessed with a Virtual Reality Kitchen Task. The task consisted of navigating a kitchen environment to explore its contents. Separate groups performed the task across environments (lab and home) and visual experiences (3D - VR Headset or 2D - PC monitor). Memory across levels of representation (category and item) was then assessed. Study 2 was conducted (n=21, Age=20-75) to further investigate findings from study 1 using a more refined memory scoring system (recall and recognition, context-free and context rich). Study 3 consisted of a survey (n=105, Age=20-76) aimed at exploring awareness, attitudes, stigmas and experience regarding technologies for cognitive health.

Results: Study 1: performing the task in the lab led to higher memory scores than at home (p
Conclusions: The preliminary results here reported suggest that environmental and methodological factors can impact the reliability of technology-driven remote cognitive assessments. Such assessments seem suitable to assess individuals across age but factors regarding awareness, attitudes and stigmas, particularly in old age, my undermine the rapid introduction of these developments in health care settings.