THINKINGPLAY

Proyectos

Traditionally different names have been used to refer to changes that occur at different ages in cognitive functioning, however, the concept of mild cognitive impairment came about in the 1990s, as defined by Petersen (2004). This concept is currently the most widely used. Despite being a very heterogeneous entity, all studies agree on the need for early recognition and to closely monitor it, as it has a high conversion rate to dementia (23%-47% in 2.6 years, according definition criteria) (Busse et al, 2003). In this scenario the Thinking Play project aims to create a cognitive stimulation tool/service and personalised and "green" monitoring that has a direct relationship with the everyday life of the elderly person.  

Funded by:

 

Objectives

The Thinking Play project has the following specific objectives:

  • Creating a set of serious games that work on mobile devices, and allow cognitive training aimed at enhancing the autonomy of people with mild cognitive impairment so that they can continue living at home while preserving their cognitive functions for as long as possible.
  • Creating a personalisation system in the game that allows for transfers from existing systems based on homogeneous levels to systems that behave much more effectively by adapting to the user, thus improving adherence to the use and transfer of what is worked games to the person's daily life.
  • Encouraging socialisation of the game, allowing different players to collaborate among themselves, promoting the "Serious Game" philosophy in order to make them entertaining and motivating.
  • Creating a tool to register the information derived from the assessment (physical, cognitive and emotional) carried out on the elderly person, the aim of which will be to establish a baseline level in connection with cognitive work functions, to propose services as adapted as possible to the user. Also, this tool will track the cognitive functioning of the elderly person, for which "control" exercises will be established, which will contrast the established baseline with the first assessment. Assessment activities along with monitoring will be used to detect any early signs of cognitive impairment, in order to take action as soon as possible and thus slow down the possible deterioration.
  • Creating an expert system to manage, control and monitor other systems based on knowledge of archetypes of similar people and data collected from the people themselves.  

Results

This project, which is currently under development, aims to create a customisable cognitive stimulation solution to adapt the contents to activities that are rewarding and meaningful for people, with "green" scenarios that are transferable to the user's daily activity, valid for the early detection of cognitive impairment, and which combines or integrate leisure activities that can be exercised in a group.

At present, the project has collected the user requirements (both the elderly and professionals) and established the functional requirements of serious game to make way for development. After obtaining the prototype developed between September and December 2016, real user testing will be conducted, in which the effectiveness of the game in relation to the previously defined objectives will be assessed.   

Consortium


  • Ibermática

  • Matia Fundazioa

  • Instituto Ibermática de Innovación, S.L.

  • Matia Institute

Year

2015 to 2016

Project status

In progress

Professionals

Erkuden Aldaz
Erkuden Aldaz Co-director - Researcher

Line of Knowledge