A Simple and Effective Way to Study Executive Functions by Using 360° Videos

Abstract

Executive dysfunctions constitute a significant public health problem due to their high impact on everyday life and personal independence. Therefore, the identification of early strategies to assess and rehabilitate these impairments appears to be a priority. The ecological limitations of traditional neuropsychological tests and the numerous difficulties in administering tests in real-life scenarios have led to the increasing use of virtual reality (VR) and 360° environment-based tools for assessing executive functions (EFs) in real life. This perspective aims at proposing the development and implementation of Executive-functions Innovative Tool 360° (EXIT 360°), an innovative, enjoyable, and ecologically valid tool for a multidimensional and multicomponent evaluation of executive dysfunctions. EXIT 360° allows a complete and integrated executive functioning assessment through an original task for EFs delivered via a mobile-powered VR headset combined with eye tracker (ET) and electroencephalograms (EEG). Our tool is born as a 360°-based instrument, easily accessible and clinically usable, that will radically transform clinicians’ and patient’s assessment experience. In EXIT 360°, patients are engaged in a “game for health,” where they must perform everyday subtasks in 360° daily life environments. In this way, the clinicians can obtain quickly more ecologically valid information about several aspects of EFs (e.g., planning, problem-solving). Moreover, the multimodal approach allows completing the assessment of EFs by integrating verbal responses, reaction times, and physiological data (eye movements and brain activation). Overall, EXIT 360° will allow obtaining simultaneously and in real time more information about executive dysfunction and its impact in real life, allowing clinicians to tailor the rehabilitation to the subject’s needs.

EXecutive-Functions Innovative Tool (EXIT 360°): A Usability and User Experience Study of an Original 360°-Based Assessment Instrument

“…In this framework, EXIT 360° fits perfectly into the ongoing transformation of traditional neuropsychological assessment [ 9 , 10 , 38 ]. EXIT 360° aimed to be an original 360°-based instrument for a multicomponent, ecologically valid evaluation of executive functioning in the neurologic population [ 15 ]. This work was borne by the need, amply demonstrated, to consider usability, user experience, and engagement as key elements in developing and using technological tools [ 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”

“…Specifically, the tool consists of 360° immersive domestic photos as virtual environments in which participants have to perform seven subtasks of increasing complexity: (1) Let’s Start; (2) Unlock the Door; (3) Choose the Person; (4) Turn On the Light; (5) Where Are the Objects? ; (6) Solve the Rebus; and (7) Create the Sequence (for a detailed description, see [ 15 ]). Briefly, the subtasks reproduce common scenarios of everyday life that ask the subject to solve specific assignments according to the instructions of each subtask.…”

“…In this framework, we developed EXecutive-functions Innovative Tool 360° (EXIT 360°), an original 360°-based instrument for a multicomponent, ecologically valid evaluation of executive functioning in the neurologic population [ 15 ]. EXIT 360° consists of a new task for EFs delivered via a comfortable mobile-powered VR headset.…”

“…In EXIT 360°, the participants have the main goal to go out of the domestic path in the shortest possible time. To do this, participants have to plan a strategy and overcome seven different steps (subtasks) of increasing complexity, designed to evaluate several components of executive functioning simultaneously and quickly [ 15 ].…”

A Psychometric Tool for Evaluating Executive Functions in Parkinson’s Disease

“…In light of these interesting results, Borgnis and colleagues (2021) have developed a 360° instrument to allow for an ecologically valid and multicomponent evaluation of executive functioning: the EXecutive-functions Innovative Tool 360° (EXIT 360°) [ 32 ]. In EXIT 360°, participants are engaged in a “game for health” delivered via a standard mobile-powered VR headset, in which they are immersed in 360° domestic environments and have to perform seven everyday subtasks developed to evaluate many components of executive functioning simultaneously and quickly.…”