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Cognitive training systems aim to improve specific domains or global cognition by engaging users in cognitively demanding tasks. Screen-based cognitive applications often report poor transferability to activities of daily living. A caveat of these systems is that they exclude the user's body and their motor skills, which invariably restricts the user experience of the environment. Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) systems, in contrast, allow for an immersive and embodied experience of the environment. This feature renders IVR as a very appealing tool for cognitive training and neurorehabilitation applications. Moreover, IVR systems collect large and varied behavioral datasets in an ecological valid scenario. These data points could provide, when combined with supervised machine learning algorithms, novel non-invasive digital biomarkers of cognitive status. Ultimately, these digital biomarkers could be used to monitor biological or pathogenic processes and determine responses to pharmacological interventions.

Here, we present Enhance VR, an IVR-based cognitive training and monitoring application that offers short daily cognitive workouts. Enhance VR is a library of cognitive exercises (also referred to as games) that are designed to train and monitor specific cognitive domains such as memory, task flexibility, information processing, orientation, attention, problem-solving, and motor control. Every game stems from the collaboration between scientists and game designers to ensure that the mechanics of each test are maintained, while the experience is a gamified and engaging representation of the neuropsychological validated tests. Our aim is to assess whether cognitively demanding tasks, presented in an IVR setting, provide a naturalistic system to train and monitor cognitive capabilities.

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Victòria Brugada-Ramentol, PhD is the Neuroscientist at Virtuleap. Victòria has 10+ years of experience in neuro-science research. Specifically, in the use of virtual reality in the context of neuroscientific research. She obtained her PhD degree from Universidade do Porto and the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme (Champalimaud Research, Lisbon, Portugal) on the role of visuomotor integration in self-representation and action recognition using a custom-made virtual reality environment. Victòria's expertise ranges from project design to data collection and analysis. At Virtuleap, her multidisciplinary role includes working closely together with the game design team in the game concept design and development, data analysis, and providing scientific documentation.

More information: http://linkedin.com/in/victoria-brugadaramentol/