Mari Feli González

Natural Interaction between Avatars and Persons with Alzheimer's Disease

In this paper a natural human computer interaction paradigm is proposed for persons with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimers Disease. The paradigm consists of using a realistic virtual character, rendered on a common television set, to play the role of a virtual personal assistant that shows reminders, notifications and performs short dialogues with the user. In this paradigm, the television remote control is used as a return channel to capture the users responses. To test this concept, a functional prototype was built and then validated by a group of 21 persons with Alzheimers Disease ranging from mild to moderate. For this validation two simple dialogues were developed that consisted of simple Yes/No type questions. The test results showed that with both dialogues all users engaged naturally with the avatar. All of the users understood the information conveyed by the avatar and answered successfully by means of the TV remote control.

Erratum to: Role of cognitive and functional performance in the interactions between elderly people with cognitive decline and an avatar on TV

The complexity of new information technologies (IT) may limit the access of elderly people to the information society, exacerbating what is known as “the digital divide,” as they appear to be too challenging for elderly citizens regardless of the integrity of their cognitive status. This study is an attempt to clarify how some cognitive functions (such as attention or verbal memory) may determine the interaction of cognitively impaired elderly people with technology. Twenty participants ranging from mild cognitive impairment to moderate Alzheimer’s disease were assessed by means of a neuropsychological and functional battery and were asked to follow simple commands from an avatar appearing on a TV by means of a remote control, such as asking the participant to confirm their presence or to respond Yes/No to a proposal to see a TV program. The number of correct answers and command repetitions required for the user to respond were registered. The results show that participants with a better cognitive and functional state in specific tests show a significantly better performance in the TV task. The derived conclusion is that neuropsychological assessment may be used as a useful complementary tool for assistive technology developers in the adaptation of IT to the elderly with different cognitive and functional profiles. Further studies with larger samples are required to determine to what extent cognitive functions can actually predict older users’ interaction with technology.

Analysis of Older Users' Perceived Requests and Opportunities with Technologies: A Scenario-Based Assessment

The HERMES Cognitive Care and Guidance for Active Aging project proposes an integrated approach to cognitive assistance, promoting the autonomy of elderly users through pervasive technology. This work aims to describe elderly peoples opinions when they are presented scenarios developed in this project. Two focus groups were organized in Austria and Spain with a view to collecting their impressions about the way in which the technological device can cover their needs; complementarily, a second session was conducted including a quantitative questionnaire. Although some participants were reluctant to use the technology, they welcomed some functionalities of the HERMES system and they considered that using them can help them to become familiar with them. Usefulness, usability, and use of real-life information for functionalities such as cognitive games are considered to be key areas of the project. This evaluation has provided the developers of the system with meaningful information to improve it and it guarantees that the system addresses elderly peoples needs.

SOCIOECOMIC, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL PREDICTORS OF COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN A SAMPLE OF MIDDLE-AGED AND OLDER ADULTS

ticipants were re-examined after seven years using the BAGI. Results suggest a significant deterioration of AM performance within the seven year interval for early adulthood (F1⁄415.55, p<.001). No difference was found for elementary school and recent past. Moreover, the younger cohort recalled more episodic details for early adulthood compared to the older cohort (F1⁄44.99, p1⁄4.0280). No interaction of cohort and time emerged for any phase of life, suggesting that AM did not decline differentially for each cohort. Conclusions: Our findings confirm that AM declines not only in the development of MCI/AD, but deteriorates in healthy aging as well. These differences were present for episodes from the distant past (early adulthood), but not with respect to episodes from the more recent past.

'Designing ambient interactions - pervasive ergonomic interfaces for ageing well' (DAI'10)

The workshop will focus on novel computer based interaction mechanisms and interfaces, which boost natural interactivity and obviate the need for conventional tedious interfaces. Such interfaces are increasingly used in ambient intelligence environments and related applications, including application boosting elderly cognitive support, cognitive rehabilitation and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). The aim of the workshop is to provide insights on the technological underpinnings of such interfaces, along with tools and techniques for their design and evaluation.

Assessing the Usefulness and Acceptance of HERMES MyFuture System in Two European Countries

In this paper, the results of the first user trials of the HERMES system “Cognitive Care and Guidance for Active Aging”, a research project co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) are presented. In particular it describes how elderly users in Austria and Spain tested HERMES MyFuture, which aims to address prospective memory problems of elderly people by means of setting different kinds of appointments (time based, location based). In general, the system is perceived as useful and easy to use.

The use of bilingualism and occupational complexity measures as proxies for cognitive reserve: Results from a community-dwelling elderly population in the North of Spain

24,83-38,20 points, respectively. About 20% e 46% of the early and moderate individuals, respectively, were under the BBS cutoff. On the AWS, 13,33% and 33,3% of the early and moderate AD were under the cutoff score. From all the individuals, about 16%, 2 from early and 8 from the moderate AD group, were under AWS and BBS cutoff scores.Conclusions:Gait apraxia and balance disorders might be presented in AD individuals, and seems to be more frequent in the moderate stage. Gait apraxia can be misinterpreted as simply balance disorders. Gait apraxia assessment, such as balance, requires high subjectivity dosages. Gait apraxia diagnosis would be easier if the sensibility index of the AWS could be improved. Despite this is just a conjecture, it seems that frontal involvement has great relation to gait apraxia presence and severity.

A randomized, placebo-controlled study of the efficacy of cognitive intervention on elderly people and on patient's with alzheimer's disease

Research on non-pharmacological therapies (cognitive rehabilitation) in old age has been very limited, and most has not considered the effect of intervention of this type over extended periods of time. The aim of Donostia Longitudinal Study was to investigate a new cognitive therapy in a randomized, placebo-controlled group of elderly people over 65 years of age without cognitive deterioration or expressed AAMI (Age Associated Memory Impairment) and patients with a Alzheimers Disease (AD). The efficacy of this therapy was evaluated by means of post-hoc analysis of 390 people using biomedical, neuropsy-chological, affective, and personality assessments. In the GDS 1-2 grouping, scores for learning potential and different types of memory for the treatment group improved significantly relative to the untreated controls. While, subjects with a GDS 3-4 showed significantly better performance on Neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) scores in all domains (anxiety, depression, apathy, sleep disturbances). Finally subjects with a GDS 5-6, showed a maintenance of cognitive capacities. In the GDS 1-2 grouping, the most significant result found is that learning potential of trained people enhances within two years of intervention, this involves a successful ageing sign and plays a preventive role in dementia development. On the other hand, in the GDS 3-4 and GDS 5-6 grouping, the behavioral disturbances diminished within this intervention, so this type of training program could be beneficial on them.