ABSTRACT

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between the types of performance errors and cognitive function when conducting virtual reality (VR) based kitchen tasks. Methods: A kitchen task was conducted in VR on 38 healthy elderly people over the age of 60 and without any neurological conditions. The aim of the kitchen task was to make a jam and butter sandwich. Two occupational therapists evaluated the types of performance errors that occurred while conducting the kitchen task. In addition, the Stocking of Cambridge, Executive Function (SOC) and Spatial Working Memory (SWM) of the Cambridge Computerized Neuropsychological Assessment (CANTAB) were evaluated. The correlation between the frequency of performance errors seen in the kitchen task and the variable scores on the SOC and SWM was analyzed. The inter-rater reliability was analyzed through SPSS 12.0, and a correlation analysis was conducted using Python. Results: The omission error showed a statistically significant positive correlation with the number of movements for the SOC and the strategy use of the SWM (p < .05). By contrast, the commission error showed a statistically significant positive correlation with only the number of movements for the SOC (p < .001). A statistically significant positive correlation occurred with the number of movements for the SOC (p < .05). Conclusion: Performance errors in VR-based kitchen task are correlated with the executive function and working memory, and are highly feasible for clinical use as an evaluation of the executive function with a high ecological validity. In the future, it will be necessary to study the characteristics of the performance errors according to the cognitive functions in different patient groups.