Alexandra Neguț1, Silviu-Andrei Matu2, Florin Alin Sava3, Daniel David2. 1. a Evidence-Based Assessment and Psychological Interventions Doctoral School, The International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health , Babeș-Bolyai University , Cluj-Napoca , Romania. 2. b Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy , Babeș-Bolyai University , Cluj-Napoca , Romania. 3. c Department of Psychology , West University of Timișoara , Timișoara , Romania.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Virtual reality-based assessment is a new paradigm for neuropsychological evaluation, that might provide an ecological assessment, compared to paper-and-pencil or computerized neuropsychological assessment. Previous research has focused on the use of virtual reality in neuropsychological assessment, but no meta-analysis focused on the sensitivity of virtual reality-based measures of cognitive processes in measuring cognitive processes in various populations. METHOD: We found eighteen studies that compared the cognitive performance between clinical and healthy controls on virtual reality measures. RESULTS: Based on a random effects model, the results indicated a large effect size in favor of healthy controls (g = .95). For executive functions, memory and visuospatial analysis, subgroup analysis revealed moderate to large effect sizes, with superior performance in the case of healthy controls. Participants' mean age, type of clinical condition, type of exploration within virtual reality environments, and the presence of distractors were significant moderators. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the sensitivity of virtual reality-based measures in detecting cognitive impairment. They highlight the possibility of using virtual reality measures for neuropsychological assessment in research applications, as well as in clinical practice.
OBJECTIVE: Virtual reality-based assessment is a new paradigm for neuropsychological evaluation, that might provide an ecological assessment, compared to paper-and-pencil or computerized neuropsychological assessment. Previous research has focused on the use of virtual reality in neuropsychological assessment, but no meta-analysis focused on the sensitivity of virtual reality-based measures of cognitive processes in measuring cognitive processes in various populations. METHOD: We found eighteen studies that compared the cognitive performance between clinical and healthy controls on virtual reality measures. RESULTS: Based on a random effects model, the results indicated a large effect size in favor of healthy controls (g = .95). For executive functions, memory and visuospatial analysis, subgroup analysis revealed moderate to large effect sizes, with superior performance in the case of healthy controls. Participants' mean age, type of clinical condition, type of exploration within virtual reality environments, and the presence of distractors were significant moderators. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the sensitivity of virtual reality-based measures in detecting cognitive impairment. They highlight the possibility of using virtual reality measures for neuropsychological assessment in research applications, as well as in clinical practice.
Authors: Valeria Manera; Grégory Ben-Sadoun; Teun Aalbers; Hovannes Agopyan; Florence Askenazy; Michel Benoit; David Bensamoun; Jérémy Bourgeois; Jonathan Bredin; Francois Bremond; Carlos Crispim-Junior; Renaud David; Bob De Schutter; Eric Ettore; Jennifer Fairchild; Pierre Foulon; Adam Gazzaley; Auriane Gros; Stéphanie Hun; Frank Knoefel; Marcel Olde Rikkert; Minh K Phan Tran; Antonios Politis; Anne S Rigaud; Guillaume Sacco; Sylvie Serret; Susanne Thümmler; Marie L Welter; Philippe Robert Journal: Front Psychol Date: 2017-07-25