Increasing age and various pathological factors lead to cognitive function decline among the elderly. The most serious cognitive dysfunctions among the elderly include mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VAD). Cognitive training is an effective approach to mitigate the decline in cognitive function. Recent studies have confirmed that emerging training methods using new technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and mobile phones, can be used effectively for cognitive training. This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to compare the brain activation of young and elderly people during VR and mobile phone training when performing a cognitive training game. fNIRS has been shown to be an effective tool for monitoring cognitive decline. In the current study, the MMSE scale was used to measure cognitive performance and fNIRS was used to measure brain activation among 20 youth (mean age 25.33±1.59 years) and 17 elderly people (mean age 63±4.35 years). The results showed that the mobile phone game produced significant activation of the prefrontal lobe (PFC) and the VR game produced significant activation of the parietal lobe (MC). The average MMSE scale score of the elderly group was lower than that of the young group and was strongly correlated with PFC activation. This study confirms that elderly people have reduced cognitive function compared to young people. The results indicate that mobile phone games have a positive training effect on reducing cognitive decline, and that VR is a suitable means for cognitive function training among the elderly.
Objective: This study reveals the changes in brain activation due to different game interaction states based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals and discusses their significance for stroke rehabilitation. Approach: The oxygenated hemoglobin concentration (Delta [HbO2]) signals and the deoxygenated hemoglobin (Delta [HbR]) signals were recorded from the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the motor cortex (MC), the occipital lobe (OL) and the temporal lobe of 21 subjects (mean age: 24.6 ± 1.9 years old) in three game interaction states: physical, motion-sensing, and button-push training. The subjects were also asked to complete user-satisfaction survey scales after the experiment. Main results: Compared with the button-training state, several channels in the PFC and MC region of the physical-training state were significantly altered as were several channels in the RMC region of the motion-sensing training state (P < 0.05 after adjustment). The motion-sensing state of the PFC had a significant correlation with that of the MC and the OL. The subjective scale results show that the acceptability of the physical and motion-sensing states was greater than the acceptability of the button-push training state. Significance: The results show that the brain regions responded more strongly when activated by the physical and motion-sensing states compared with the button-push training state, and the physical and motion-sensing states are more conducive to the rehabilitation of the nervous system. The design of rehabilitation products for stroke patients is discussed and valuable insights are offered to support the selection of better interactive training methods.
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