Do Older and Young Adults Learn to Integrate Geometry WhileNavigating in an Environment of a Serious Game?

摘要

We evaluated the outcomes of an intervention using a serious game designed to beplayed on iPads for improving spatial reorientation by training users tointegrate geometry of the environment, instead of relying solely on featuralcues. Using data logged online through a clinical study of using this game, theeffect of training among 16 older adults (69.3 ± 6.4 years, 4 males), who playedthe game repeatedly (self-administered) over a period of 8 weeks, wasinvestigated. The game contains a hexagonal room with 3 objects, textured walls,and grids on the floor, which are removed one by one as the participant playedthe game. In each level, the room also rotates such that the viewpoint of theuser is different from that of the previous level. Participants cannot play ahigher level unless they make no mistake during the trials of the lower testlevel. In addition to data of older adults available from that clinical trial,we recruited 16 young adults (27.3 ± 5.6 years, 4 males) to play the game for 5sessions and compared their results with those of the older adults. We evaluatedthe error type made in each test level and the scores for each session amongolder adults. Further, we compared the frequency of each error type betweenyoung and older adults during the test levels that a landmark adjacent to thetarget was removed over the first 5 sessions. The results of older adults’performance suggest they learned to make fewer mistakes over the sessions. Also,both young and older adults learned to integrate the geometrical cues ratherthan relying on the landmark cue adjacent to the target to find the target.Overall, the results indicate the designed hexagonal room game can enhancespatial cognition among all age groups of adults.