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Chen YC, Yeh SL, Huang TR, Chang YL, Goh JOS, Fu LC. Social Robots for Evaluating Attention State in Older Adults. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021; 21:7142. [PMID: 34770448 PMCID: PMC8586987 DOI: 10.3390/s21217142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Revised: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Sustained attention is essential for older adults to maintain an active lifestyle, and the deficiency of this function is often associated with health-related risks such as falling and frailty. The present study examined whether the well-established age-effect on reducing mind-wandering, the drift to internal thoughts that are seen to be detrimental to attentional control, could be replicated by using a robotic experimenter for older adults who are not as familiar with online technologies. A total of 28 younger and 22 older adults performed a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) by answering thought probes regarding their attention states and providing confidence ratings for their own task performances. The indices from the modified SART suggested a well-documented conservative response strategy endorsed by older adults, which were represented by slower responses and increased omission errors. Moreover, the slower responses and increased omissions were found to be associated with less self-reported mind-wandering, thus showing consistency with their higher subjective ratings of attentional control. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of constructing age-related cognitive profiles with attention evaluation instruction based on a social companion robot for older adults at home.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Chen Chen
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Su-Ling Yeh
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10051, Taiwan
| | - Tsung-Ren Huang
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ling Chang
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10048, Taiwan
| | - Joshua O. S. Goh
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10051, Taiwan
| | - Li-Chen Fu
- Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan;
- Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- MOST Joint Research Center for AI Technology and All Vista Healthcare, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
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