A Serious Game to Improve Cognitive Functions in Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia impair everyday functioning and instrumental daily living activities. These disabilities can be partly responsible for chronicity and institutionalization. We present here a virtual reality (VR) tool in which patients with schizophrenia performed a virtual game in an imaginary town during a 3-month program. In a pilot study, seven patients with schizophrenia (DSM-5), institutionalized for many years, attended weekly 1-h-and-a-half sessions organized by two clinicians. During the first sessions, they listed together the difficulties they experienced in everyday organization and planning. After being familiarized with the joystick and the VR environment, they navigated in the town, and planned actions that were difficult for them to carry out in their usual life (e.g., shopping, memorizing the way to the supermarket or being on time at a meeting point). They had to look for alternative routes and practice a switch from a 2D Map to the 3D Map. They also gathered their efforts to share strategies for each action, or discussed the action plan they could generate to solve concrete problems. The pre/post-neuropsychological evaluations showed attention, working memory, prospective, and retrospective memory benefits, but no improvement in planning as assessed by the Zoo map test and the action program subtest of Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome. Patients also clinically and functionally improved, gaining autonomy. Pragmatically, they reported a strong energy to elaborate concrete plans to search for jobs, or return to activities in the community. Qualitative assessments showed a benefit in sparing time, planning better, enriched relatedness, and better management of their housework. This VR game opens avenue to rehabilitation for patients with schizophrenia experiencing chronicity in their life, less attendance in daycare units, and a better community living. This program might reduce neurocognitive difficulties and might evolve into a true method for cognitive remediation (trial n° 2011-A00988-33).

Shoot at first sight! First person shooter players display reduced reaction time and compromised inhibitory control in comparison to other video game players

“…In contrast, a growing body of evidence converged in demonstrating that video game use is susceptible to improvement of specific cognitive processes (Anguera et al, 2013), which notably opens up promising avenues for developing game-based interventions in various populations, including elderly individuals, conditions marked by impaired self-control (e.g., neuropsychological, impulse control, or addictive disorders) (Thorens et al, 2016), and psychiatric disorders characterized by severe cognitive alterations (e.g., schizophrenia; Amado et al, 2016). To date, among the video game genres described above, demonstrated cognitive benefits were limited to studies conducted on FPSs.…”

Developing Digital Intervention Games for Mental Disorders: A Review

“…Certain mental disorders may be underrepresented in this review due to exclusions of cognitive rehabilitation (CR), educational/social skills, and VR games. Many of the CR or educational games target disorders such as autism 34,35 (see game development reviews 36,37 ), ADHD, dementia/neurocognitive impairment, schizophrenia, 38 and depression. 39 Similarly, VR games tended to treat anxiety disorders.…”

Deep learning control of artificial avatars in group coordination tasks

“…The problem is crucial in social robotics, where new advancements in human-robot interaction can promote novel diagnostic and rehabilitation strategies for patient suffering from social and motor disorders [6].…”