Evidence-Based Immersive Technology Use in Cognitive Assessments and Cognition-Based Interventions

Learning Objectives

• 1.

  Readers will briefly learn about the psychometric requirements for cognitive tests

• 2.

  Readers will be acquainted with the latest trends in the use of immersive technologies for cognition-based assessments and interventions

• 3.

  The chapter will facilitate a critical discussion for the adoption of immersive technologies for cognition based assessments and interventions

2. Cognitive Assessments

Eminent researchers and academics from the fields of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, experimental psychology, and philosophy were asked for their understanding of cognition in the scheme of their training and speciality and their evolved understanding (Bayne et al., 2019). They had different perspectives; nevertheless, a more refined understanding of cognition emerged when their viewpoints were put together. Cognition represents the scientific basis of behaviour and is driven by neural processes which are shaped by environmental variables. As it now stands, it continues to be understood as a broad term for processes of attention, learning, memory, perception, decision-making, language, categorisation, and mental and motor control.

Cognitive testing encompasses assessments for attention (sustaining concentration over a period of time, or being able to attend to information in the midst of noise or distractors), executive functioning (problem-solving skills, ability to inhibit a response), short term memory or working memory (the ability to hold on to information for a short period of time, and/or manipulate it), long term memory (memory about/ for events in one’s life, recalling meaning of words, or definitions of concepts), prospective memory (remembering an intention which needs to be carried out in the future), visuospatial abilities (the ability to navigate in space, find locations), and language (ability to express and comprehend in one’s language of choice).