Cognitive training has shown promising results for delivering improvements in human cognition related to attention, problem solving,
reading comprehension and information retrieval. However,
two frequently cited problems in cognitive training literature are a
lack of user engagement with the training programme, and a failure
of developed skills to generalise to daily life. This paper introduces
a new cognitive training (CT) paradigm designed to address these
two limitations by combining the benefits of gamification, virtual
reality (VR), and affective adaptation in the development of an engaging,
ecologically valid, CT task. Additionally, it incorporates
facial electromyography (EMG) as a means of determining user affect
while engaged in the CT task. This information is then utilised
to dynamically adjust the game’s difficulty in real-time as users play,
with the aim of leading them into a state of flow. Affect recognition
rates of 64.1% and 76.2%, for valence and arousal respectively, were
achieved by classifying a DWT-Haar approximation of the input
signal using kNN. The affect-aware VR cognitive training intervention
was then evaluated with a control group of older adults. The
results obtained substantiate the notion that adaptation techniques
can lead to greater feelings of competence and a more appropriate
challenge of the user’s skills