Use of a Virtual Environment to Engage Motor and Postural Abilities in Elderly Subjects With and Without Mild Cognitive Impairment (MAAMI Project)

Objectives: In the context of rehabilitation, the use of new technology such as Virtual Reality Technology (VRT) offers multiple possibilities to modulate the functional stimulation of subjects according to needs. Material and methods: In this study, the validity and reliability of our VRT system were investigated in fifteen healthy aged adults (HAA) and seven aged subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). One implicit session was designed through two virtual environments (VEs) in order to induce the adapted activities associated with balance and postural control. In comparison, the same activities were achieved in explicit sessions with a physiotherapist. This cross-over study made use of a qualitative method to collect participants' feelings in both implicit and explicit sessions. Results: The results allowed us to validate the embedded technologies in our system and also the VE features for MCI subjects and their healthy counterparts. The analysis of participants' feelings showed that implicit tasks were preferred to explicit ones. Conclusion: This study highlighted that the use of VRT generated a competitive spirit in all participants. This point underlines the major role of reward motivation in motor learning processes in rehabilitation.This work was supported by the French Research Agency (ANR) in Tecsan program (ANR-12-TECS-0014-01): MAAMI project (Maladie d'Alzheimer et Apprentissage Moteur Implicite – Alzheimer's disease and implicit motor learning)