A pilot study of a new method of cognitive stimulation using abacus arithmetic in healthy and cognitively impaired elderly subjects

LONG-REMI: An AI-Based Technological Application to Promote Healthy Mental Longevity Grounded in Reminiscence Therapy

Reminiscence therapy (RT) consists of thinking about one's own experiences through the presentation of memory-facilitating stimuli, and it has as its fundamental axis the activation of emotions. An innovative way of offering RT involves the use of technology-assisted applications, which must also satisfy the needs of the user. This study aimed to develop an AI-based computer application that recreates RT in a personalized way, meeting the characteristics of RT guided by a therapist or a caregiver. The material guiding RT focuses on intangible cultural heritage. The application incorporates facial expression analysis and reinforcement learning techniques, with the aim of identifying the user's emotions and, with them, guiding the computer system that emulates RT dynamically and in real time. A pilot study was carried out at five senior centers in Barcelona and Portugal. The results obtained are very positive, showing high user satisfaction. Moreover, the results indicate that the high frequency of positive emotions increased in the participants at the end of the intervention, while the low frequencies of negative emotions were maintained at the end of the intervention.

Design guidelines and usability for cognitive stimulation through technology in Mexican older adults

To develop software to stimulate cognitive functions of attention, memory, reasoning, planning, language, and perception in Mexican older adults, and to evaluate the usability of software based on system utility, information quality, and interface quality.For the development of the cognitive stimulation software, an inductive-deductive methodology was used in three stages: Analysis (system requirements), design and coding (cognitive stimulation software), evaluation (usability results).The usability of the software was assessed in 89 older adults between the ages of 60 and 84 years, through a usability questionnaire with evidence of reliability and validity.Eight exercises about attention, seven on memory, three on reasoning, one about planning and language, and two on perception were developed. We evaluated the usability of the developed software using the Computer System Usability Questionnaire, obtaining medium-high usability in 76.2% of the participants regarding the system utility, in 77.7% concerning the information quality and, in 84.2% in the interface quality.The software was developed considering aspects of usability and based on changes and losses associated with aging, as well as on the stimulation of cognitive functions related to instrumental activities of daily living, including exercises based on traditional pencil-paper exercises.