La cognition sociale au-delà du cerveau : une cognition inclusive

National audienc

La réalité virtuelle au service de l’évaluation clinique de la personne âgée : le dépistage précoce de la démence

National audienceToday, there are 24.3 million people suffering from dementia worldwide, that is a new case every 7 seconds (Ferri et al., 2005) and more than 80 million cases expected in 2040. Aging-related morbidity is a real social problem making screening a major challenge. Currently, screening and diagnostic tools for dementia remain independent from each other, screening tools being non-specific and diagnostic tools non-naturalistic. With the technological possibilities offered by virtual reality, it is becoming easier to investigate cognition and behavior in elderly people. Virtual reality allows a better understanding and assessment, and perhaps could stimulate cognitive functioning of elderly people. Combining measurements of cognitive impairment and disability might help close the gap between structural and naturalistic validity.Exactement 24,3 millions de cas de démences dans le monde actuellement, avec un nouveau cas toutes les sept secondes (Ferri et al., 2005) et plus de 80 millions de cas attendus en 2040 : les pathologies du vieillissement représente un véritable problème de société et leur dépistage est donc un enjeu majeur. Actuellement, les outils de dépistage et de diagnostic des démences sont des outils indépendants, peu spécifiques pour les uns et peu écologiques pour les autres. Grâce aux possibilités technologiques que nous offre la réalité virtuelle, il est de plus en plus facile de questionner la cognition et les comportements des personnes âgées. La réalité virtuelle permet de comprendre, évaluer, éventuellement stimuler le fonctionnement cognitif des personnes âgées réduisant la tension entre validité structurelle et validité écologique en proposant des mesures conjointes des troubles cognitifs et du handicap (Flynn et al., 2003 ; McGee et al., 2000)

Do patients with traumatic brain injury learn a route in the same way in real and virtual environments?

International audienceUNLABELLED: An increasing number of studies address the use of virtual environments (VE) in the cognitive assessment of spatial abilities. However, the differences between learning in a VE and a real environment (RE) remain controversial. PURPOSE: To compare the topographical behavior and spatial representations of patients with traumatic brain injury navigating in a real environment and in a virtual reproduction of this environment. METHODS: Twenty-seven subjects with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury were consecutively included and allocated to one of two groups. The subjects were taught the same route in either the virtual environment or the real environment and had to recall it twice immediately after learning the route and once after a delay. At the end of these sessions, the subjects were asked to complete three representational tests: a map test, a map recognition test recognition and a scene arrangement test. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the two groups with regards to demographics, severity of brain injury or episodic memory. As a main result, the number of error rates did not significantly differ between the real and virtual environment [F (1, 25) = 0.679; p = 0.4176)]. Scores on the scene arrangement test were higher in the real environment [U = 32.5; p = 0.01]. CONCLUSIONS: Although spatial representations probably differ between the real and virtual environment, virtual reality remains a trusty assessment tool for spatial abilities

3D virtual world BPM training systems:process gateway experimental results

\u3cp\u3eIt is important for companies that their operational employees have profound knowledge of the processes in which their work is embedded. 3D virtual world (VW) environments are promising for learning, especially for complex processes that have deviations from the standard flow. We design a 3D VW process training environment to improve process learning, particularly for complex processes with alternative flows, represented with gateways in process models. We adopt the method of loci, which suggests the mental traversal of routines for improving learning. Our experiment with 145 participants compares the level of knowledge acquired for a sample process with our 3D VW environment and a 2D depiction. We found that the 3D VW environment significantly increases the level of process knowledge acquired across the typical gateways in processes. Our results contribute to our understanding of how individuals learn knowledge of processes via 3D environments. With a low initial investment, practitioners are encouraged to invest in 3D training systems for processes, since these can be set up once and reused multiple times for various employees.\u3c/p\u3