A Gamification Engine Architecture for Enhancing Behavioral Change Support Systems

This paper presents a gamified framework designed to offer behavioural change support and treatment adherence services to people living with Dementia (PLWD), their caregivers and medical/social professionals

Playing Games with Tito:Designing Hybrid Museum Experiences for Critical Play

This article brings together two distinct, but related perspectives on playful museum experiences: Critical play and hybrid design. The article explores the challenges involved in combining these two perspectives, through the design of two hybrid museum experiences that aimed to facilitate critical play with/in the collections of the Museum of Yugoslavia and the highly contested heritage they represent. Based on reflections from the design process as well as feedback from test users, we describe a series of challenges: Challenging the norms of visitor behaviour, challenging the role of the artefact, and challenging the curatorial authority. In conclusion, we outline some possible design strategies to address these challenges

A dynamic interface adaptation approach for accessible immersive environments

Current trends in context-Aware computing have altered the static nature of interfaces and equipped them with the ability to adapt to the physical or social context. This paper investigates new paradigms towards cognitive context-Awareness which relies on adaptation and personalization factors of more explicit interfaces oriented by individuals' cognitive processes. The main objective is to propose a smooth transition from existing interface design practices to advanced adaptation techniques concerning interfaces' design, based on cognitive abilities' inclination. To prove this, a group of young users, elderly and MCI positives, were asked to perform series of common tasks in a Metaverse interface design. A prediction model was developed to categorize users based on the way they interact with the interface. The outcomes of the interaction pattern analysis serve as the criterion based on which the proposed novel interaction-Aware interface can adapt users' abilities to maximize accessibility and comfort

Design of novel screening environments for Mild Cognitive Impairment: Giving priority to elicited speech and language abilities

Recent cognitive decline screening batteries have highlighted the importance of language deficits related to semantic knowledge breakdown to reveal the incipient dementia. This paper proposes the introduction of novel enriched linguistic tests and examines the hypothesis that language can be a sensitive cognitive measure for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). A group of MCI and healthy elderly were administered a set of proposed linguistic tests. Performance measures were made on both groups to indicate that concrete verbal production deficits such as impaired verb fluency can distinguish the MCI from normal aging. In addition, it was found that even in cases where the MCI subjects preserved scores, language tests took significantly more time compared to healthy controls. These findings indicate that language could be a sensitive cognitive marker in preclinical stages of MCI. © 2015 ICST

Media enhanced educational and training interventions for people at risk of Alzheimer's disease

Changes in cognition observed in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) syndrome can be noticed by individuals and their families and in most cases this is the reason for asking for medical advice. Later on, computerized cognitive skills training and screening services are offered to sense those conditions and to numerically express the changes in cognition over time. This paper describes a web-platform designed to offer skills-training interventions to people at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). The content development was based mainly on verbal fluency and other combinatorial mental abilities judgment. One hundred fifteen (115) people, aged 55 to 78 years old (M=65.57, SD=5.89) were recruited in a proof-of-concept study (92 MCI/ 22 healthy controls). The results indicated that the systematic use of language in computerized interventions could provide an additional diagnostic and skills-training value for the management of the MCI patients. © 2018 P.Ziti and Co. All rights reserved

Study of EEG power fluctuations enhanced by linguistic stimulus for cognitive decline screening

Relative Electroencephalography (EEG) power can reflect cognitive decline and play a critical diagnostic role for dementia onset. The current paper investigates power changes in EEG channels on elderly people having Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) during a linguistic test. The main objective was to identify patterns in EEG power changes during a linguistically enriched cognitive assessment test which involved working memory abilities, selective attention and perception. Groups of MCI, demented and healthy controls were recruited to take part in an experiment. It was found that MCI and demented patients showed significantly different patterns in delta and theta frequency bands during the linguistic tasks. Results are valuable in the study of the way brain processes linguistic information in people with cognitive impairment and in screening assessment procedures. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

A new method for the assessment of discourse comprehension abilities of older adults with mild cognitive impairment

In the present study, we assess reading comprehension abilities in different discourse types along with visual processing and executive functioning through innovative language tasks performed in a computerized environment. The current study assessed the role of reading comprehension ability in discriminating between healthy elderly subjects and subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). A total of 98 participants with MCI and 17 non-demented elderly as controls ranging from 55-85 years old (16 males, 99 females), native speakers of the local language (Greek) were included. Novel reading tests performance were based on reading abilities, context comprehension and cognitive flexibility based on main cognitive domains such as attention and working memory. Results suggested that the assessment of reading ability through different discourse texts in a computerized environment could provide useful information for cognitive decline risk. Copyright 2016 is held by the owner/author(s)

A computerized test for the assessment of mild cognitive impairment subtypes in sentence processing

This study examines thesentence processing ability of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes. In addition to standard MCI neuropsychological tests, an experimental approach was applied to assess language. 133 people (93 MCI/40 controls) participated in novel computerized sentence processing tasks. Results presented statistically significant differences between MCI/controls andMCI subtypes (ANOVA):(a) duration F(2,92) = 19.259,p <.001) in sentence construction; (b) correct answers (F(2, 89) = 8.560,p <.001) and duration (F2,89) = 15.525,p <.001)in text comprehension; (c) correct answers (F(2, 92) = 8.975,p <.001) andduration (F(2, 92) = 4.360,p =.016) in metaphoric sentences comprehension; (d) correct answers (F(2, 92) = 12.836,p <.001) andduration (F(2, 92) = 10.974,p <.001) in verb form generation. Subtle changes in MCIsubtypes could affect sentence processing and provide useful information for cognitive decline risk estimation and screening purposes. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Novel Virtual User Models of Mild Cognitive Impairment for Simulating Dementia

Virtual user modeling research has attempted to address critical issues of human-computer interaction (HCI) such as usability and utility through a large number of analytic, usability-oriented approaches as cognitive models in order to provide users with experiences fitting to their specific needs. However, there is demand for more specific modules embodied in cognitive architecture that will detect abnormal cognitive decline across new synthetic task environments. Also, accessibility evaluation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) requires considerable effort for enhancing ICT products accessibility for older adults. The main aim of this study is to develop and test virtual user models (VUM) simulating mild cognitive impairment (MCI) through novel specific modules, embodied at cognitive models and defined by estimations of cognitive parameters. Well-established MCI detection tests assessed users' cognition, elaborated their ability to perform multitasks, and monitored the performance of infotainment related tasks to provide more accurate simulation results on existing conceptual frameworks and enhanced predictive validity in interfaces' design supported by increased tasks' complexity to capture a more detailed profile of users' capabilities and limitations. The final outcome is a more robust cognitive prediction model, accurately fitted to human data to be used for more reliable interfaces' evaluation through simulation on the basis of virtual models of MCI users