Virtual reality video game improves high-fidelity memory in older adults

Abstract

Therapeutic interventions have not yet been shown to demonstrate restorative effects for declining long-term memory (LTM) that affects many healthy older adults. We developed a virtual reality (VR) spatial wayfinding game (Labyrinth-VR) as a cognitive intervention with the hypothesis that it could improve detailed, high-fidelity LTM capability. Spatial navigation tasks have been used as a means to achieve environmental enrichment via exposure to and learning about novel and complex information. Engagement has been shown to enhance learning and has been linked to the vitality of the LTM system in the brain. In the current study, 48 older adults (mean age 68.7 ± 6.4 years) with average cognitive abilities for their age were randomly assigned to 12 h of computer game play over four weeks in either the Labyrinth-VR or placebo control game arms. Promptly before and after each participant's treatment regimen, high-fidelity LTM outcome measures were tested to assess mnemonic discrimination and other memory measures. The results showed a post-treatment gain in high-fidelity LTM capability for the Labyrinth-VR arm, relative to placebo, which reached the levels attained by younger adults in another experiment. This novel finding demonstrates generalization of benefits from the VR wayfinding game to important, and untrained, LTM capabilities. These cognitive results are discussed in the light of relevant research for hippocampal-dependent memory functions.

Figures

Figure 1

Illustrations of the virtual reality game in Experiment 2 (A) Via a head-mounted virtual reality display, participants had a first-person view of wayfinding trials. The game goal was to learn and efficiently complete errands, as illustrated here with the overhead perspective of the feedback screen from a Village neighborhood. (B) Game movement was effected by a participant’s ambulation, which was co-registered into the game map from ankle-mounted tracking sensors.

Figure 2

Overview of Procedures in Experiment 2. Participants were randomized to training regimens that included 12 h on task playing either the Labyrinth-VR or the Placebo Control games over 30 days. Baseline and post-training performance on high-fidelity LTM outcomes were assessed promptly before and after each participant’s training regimen.

Figure 3

Results for LTM Outcome Measures. (A) The distributions of participants’ individual change scores (i.e., T2-T1) are presented for the Labyrinth-VR and Control arms from the results for Lure Discrimination Index (LDI) and WALK. Mean performance in each column is shown by a horizontal bar. (B) Comparisons of treatment-induced changes between arms showed a robust gain in LDI for Labyrinth-VR (Lab), relative to Control (Con), and a smaller numerical gain in WALK for Lab, relative to Con. * indicates a difference between arms, p 

Figure 4

Individual Differences. Relative to their game achievement level, individual change scores in LDI (i.e., T2-T1) are presented for participants in the Labyrinth-VR treatment arm. A trend was evident between higher Labyrinth achievement and treatment-induced gain in LDI (p = 0.10).

Figure 5

Comparisons of LDI for Younger, Older and Labyrinth-VR Participants. (A) Mean LDI scores for participants in the Labyrinth-VR arm in Experiment 2 (i.e., at baseline, T1, and post-training assessments, T2) are compared to the mean LDI scores for groups of younger and older adults that completed the same Mnemonic Discrimination Task in Experiment 1. Labyrinth-VR participants at T1 showed a diminished level of LDI typical of older adults (OA), and then they improved this important high-fidelity LTM capability at T2 up to a level typical for younger adults (YA). (B) Mean LDI scores for participants in the Control arm in Experiment 2, at both T1 and T2, were below the mean level of YA in Experiment 1. ** indicates a difference between means, p