A serious gaming alternative to pen-and-paper cognitive scoring: A pilot study of BrightScreener™

The majority of cognitive virtual reality (VR) applications have been for therapy, not cognitive stratification/scoring. This paper describes the BrightScreenerTM and its first pilot feasibility study for evaluating elderly with various degrees of cognitive impairment. BrightScreener is a portable (laptop-based) serious-gaming system which incorporates a bimanual game interface for more ecological interaction with virtual worlds. A pilot study was undertaken to determine if BrightScreener is able to differentiate levels of cognitive impairment based on game performance, as well as to evaluate the technology acceptance by the target population. 11 elderly subjects were recruited by the Clinical Coordinator at the Memory Enhancement Center of America (MECA, Eatontown, NJ) site. They had an average age of 73.6 years, and averaged 14.5 years of education. Subjects first underwent clinical scoring with the standardised Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). During the same visit they underwent a familiarization session and then an evaluation session on the BrightScreener. At the end of their visit, each subject filled a subjective evaluation exit form. Technologists were blinded to MMSE scores. Subsequent group analysis of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed a high degree of correlation between the subjects’ MMSE scores and their Composite Game Scores (0.90, |P| < 0.01). Despite the small sample size, results suggest that serious-gaming strategies can be used as a digital technique to stratify levels of Cognitive Impairment. This may be an alternative to conventional standardised scoring for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia.