Virtual Reality and EEG-Based Intelligent Agent in Older Adults With Subjective Cognitive Decline: A Feasibility Study for Effects on Emotion and Cognition

Objectives: Immersive virtual reality has tremendous potential to improve cognition in populations with cognitive impairment. We conducted a feasibility and proof-of-concept study to assess the potential of virtual reality and electroencephalography, with or without an intelligent agent, that adapts the presented material to the emotions elicited by the environment.Method: Older adults with subjective cognitive decline recruited from the community received a virtual reality-based intervention taking place in one of two virtual environments, a train (Part 1, N = 19) or a music theatre, complemented by the intelligent agent (Part 2, N = 19). A comparative control group (N = 19) receiving no intervention was also included. All participants completed measures of affect and cognition before and after the intervention. The intervention groups completed measures of cybersickness and user experience after the intervention.Results: Participants did not suffer from increased cybersickness following either intervention. They also reported a positive to highly positive user experience concerning the following aspects: attractivity, hedonic quality-identity and hedonic quality-stimulation. The measures of affect showed no pre-post change when comparing either intervention to the control condition. However, a reduction of negative affect was observed following the train intervention for participants with a high self-reported negative affect at baseline. Finally, there was a significant improvement in working memory when comparing either intervention group to the control condition.Conclusion: Our results support the feasibility and tolerability of the technology, and a positive impact on cognition, paving the way for a larger-scale randomized clinical trial to confirm efficacy.