Esconde-Pirata: um jogo sério para mensuração da memória episódica integrativa em adultos e idosos

Abstract

Binding Memory (BM) is a cognitive ability that allows the association of various information that sets up complex stimuli or events derived from everyday experiences, categorized as Conjunctive and Relational. Healthy aging seems to affect these abilities in different ways. The detection of these alterations can be used as a tool for tracking dysfunctional cognitive profiles. The assessment through neuropsychological tests is considered a standard measure to identify these changes in the clinical environment and the research. However, this method suffers a lot of criticism because it presents limitations. In this context, other tools, such as digital games, more specifically the Serious Games (SG) seem to be promising. In this study, the development and implementation of an BM-based SG, the “Esconde-Pirata” (Study 2) are detailed. The results showed that SG tasks are predominantly related to traditional memory tests, in which the SG performance is explained by the classic neuropsychological measurement involved, thus demonstrating good indicators of construct validity for the game. In addition, the SG detected changes in performance related to healthy aging (Study 3). In contrast, the elderly group showed worse indicators of recall accuracy compared to younger adults in all tasks implemented in the SG. The results showed the SG proved to be a viable and valid tool to assess different types of BM in healthy young and elderly adults in a controlled environment, indicating that it is sensitive to detecting changes in these abilities resulting from healthy aging. Thus, this measurement can be used in the future to assist in the process of characterizing the cognitive profile of BM in normal and pathological aging.