Exploring the potential of programming tasks to benefit patients with mild cognitive impairment
Stavros Demetriadis, Τhrasyvoulos Tsiatsos, Theodosios Sapounidis, Magda Tsolaki, Alexandros Gerontidis · 2016
In the context of the ASPAD project we explored the potential of robot programming tasks to benefit patients with MCI (mild cognitive impairment), when implemented as a form of cognitive training with the use of a user-friendly tangible interface. In this paper, we present relevant research evidence indicating that: (a) there is a significant negative correlation between patients' MMSE index and "Programming Task Completion Time" (PTCT) index, suggesting that PTCT can be used as a precursor of patients' general mental state; (b) MCI patients (treatment group) displayed significantly improved post-test performance in the "Test of Everyday Attention" when compared to a non-hospitalized non-otherwise treated control group. We conclude that available evidence encourage further investigation of the impact of programming tasks on MCI patients, as a cognitive training and assessment tool, in relation to important mental skills (such as analysis and planning) and cognitive processes such as attention.