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Unlocking Cognitive Potential: Exploring a Virtual Environment for Cognitive Training in Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment
Pierre-Alexandre Andrieu-Devilly, Marc Gandit, Didier Schwab, Lisa Quillion‐Dupré, Emmanuel Monfort. IRBM, 2025-03-05
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
This study aims to investigate how cognitive impairment and social presence influence goal attainment in an ecological virtual environment. It also examines the role of interactive features in improving computer-assisted cognitive training for older adults, both with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A virtual supermarket was used to simulate a realistic exploration task, incorporating social interactions and adaptive assistance strategies. Error analysis was conducted to identify performance patterns linked to cognitive profiles. Participants with MCI exhibited a significantly higher frequency of wandering and uncorrected orientation errors, compared to cognitively healthy older adults. While verbal support was beneficial in facilitating virtual task progress, it did not fully mitigate performance deficits in those with MCI. Additionally, all older participants, regardless of cognitive status, reported significantly lower perceptions of social presence compared to younger participants. Virtual environments constitute a promising tool for the assessment and enhancement of functional abilities in older adults with neurocognitive impairments. The integration of tailored cognitive training protocols and adaptive support strategies holds potential to optimize cognitive stimulation and task performance. • A computerized ecological task can demonstrate age-related neurocognitive decline. • Wandering and orientation errors characterize cognitive decline. • Older people with neurocognitive decline maintain a sens of social presence. • Virtual support is less effective for older individuals with cognitive disorders. • Tailored support for seniors must adapt verbal cues as part of virtual training.
Key findings
- Participants with MCI exhibited a significantly higher frequency of wandering and uncorrected orientation errors, compared to cognitively healthy older adults.
- Additionally, all older participants, regardless of cognitive status, reported significantly lower perceptions of social presence compared to younger participants.
Why it matters
This study used a virtual supermarket task and found that people with mild cognitive impairment made more wandering and orientation errors than cognitively healthy older adults, and that verbal support did not fully remove these deficits. It suggests virtual environments may be useful for assessment and cognitive training, but it does not test a treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 33/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (IRBM) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | IRBM: journal h-index 58 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 1 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 1 / 6 | Cited 0.6× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 1 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 1 / 4 | Last-listed author Emmanuel Monfort: h-index 6 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: institution h-index 2,511 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 33 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Andrieu-Devilly, P.-A., Gandit, M., Schwab, D., Quillion‐Dupré, L., & Monfort, E. (2025). Unlocking Cognitive Potential: Exploring a Virtual Environment for Cognitive Training in Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment. IRBM. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irbm.2025.100885
Vancouver
Andrieu-Devilly P.-A, Gandit M, Schwab D, Quillion‐Dupré L, Monfort E. Unlocking Cognitive Potential: Exploring a Virtual Environment for Cognitive Training in Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment. IRBM. 2025. doi:10.1016/j.irbm.2025.100885.
BibTeX
@article{andrieudevilly2025-4e21a0da,
author = {Andrieu-Devilly, Pierre-Alexandre and Gandit, Marc and Schwab, Didier and Quillion‐Dupré, Lisa and Monfort, Emmanuel},
title = {{Unlocking Cognitive Potential: Exploring a Virtual Environment for Cognitive Training in Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment}},
journal = {IRBM},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1016/j.irbm.2025.100885},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irbm.2025.100885}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here.