Acceptance of Cognitive Games through Smart TV Applications in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Different types of dementia associated to later stages of Parkinson's or Alzheimer's diseases may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. People affected by such diseases may also experience changes in their mood, expressiveness or behaviour which can provoke a communication impact in their lives and problems for socializing. Preventive policies, such as a balanced diet, daily exercise, frequent intellectual activity and interaction with others are protective factors that could help to reduce (or at least to delay) the effect of this cognitive impairment. Cognitive electronic games are an effective methodology to develop cognitive training and to stimulate the brain activity in this kind of patients. The user's interaction information allows analyzing the cognitive training and drawing conclusions about their evolution in controlled environments supervised by a professional. Preliminary tests revealed that users are familiarized with the use of televisions facing other devices such as tablets or smartphones. For that purpose, a Smart TV application containing different kinds of cognitive games, such as Bingo, Trivial or Memory was developed, taking benefits of the Connected TV environment. The Smart TV device for cognitive games received a good acceptance while tested among caregivers, patients and professionals, as demonstrated after testing the cognitive games individually and also collectively in daily care centers. Those tests revealed that the use of this device was a good chance to improve socialization with collaborative gaming, as this activity obliged them to communicate with other people and interact with their surrounding environment.