Department of Graphics Engineering, Instituto de Investigación e Innovación en Bioingeniería (I3B), Universitat Politècnica de València, València, Spain.
Health Department, Unidad de Alcohología, Hospital Universitario de San Juan, Alicante, Spain.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2021 Oct;24(10):673-682. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2020.0560. Epub 2021 Mar 24.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major global problem. Neuropsychological studies have shown that AUD causes deficits in executive functions (EFs), a set of higher order cognitive skills that govern individual behavior in everyday situations. Many standardized neuropsychological tests are used to evaluate EF. These are reliable and valid but have limitations in predicting real-life performance. To address this, we present a preliminary study to test the virtual cooking task (VCT) as an alternative to standardized neuropsychological tests. The VCT includes four subtasks developed to assess attentional, planning, and cognitive shifting abilities; it was tested in an immersive three-dimensional environment. To evaluate the VCT performance and standardized neuropsychological tests, data were gathered from a sample of healthy subjects (control group [CG]; = 23) and AUD patients ( = 18). The standardized neuropsychological measures used consisted of questionnaires (Attentional Control Scale, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and Cognitive Flexibility Scale) and specific tests (Dot-probe task, Go/No-go test, Stroop test, the trail making test, and Tower of London test). The results showed significant higher correlations for AUD patients than for the CG for the VCT, questionnaires, and specific tests, mainly related to planning and cognitive shifting abilities. Furthermore, comparative analyses of the VCT performance showed that the AUD patients made more errors and had higher latency times than the CG. The present study provides initial evidence that a more ecologically valid assessment can be a useful tool to detect cognitive impairments in many neuropsychological and mental disorders, affecting daily activities.
酒精使用障碍（AUD）是一个全球性的主要问题。神经心理学研究表明，AUD 导致执行功能（EF）缺陷，这是一组高级认知技能，控制个体在日常情况下的行为。许多标准化的神经心理学测试用于评估 EF。这些测试可靠且有效，但在预测现实生活中的表现方面存在局限性。为了解决这个问题，我们提出了一项初步研究，以测试虚拟烹饪任务（VCT）作为标准化神经心理学测试的替代方法。VCT 包括四个子任务，旨在评估注意力、计划和认知转换能力；它在沉浸式三维环境中进行测试。为了评估 VCT 表现和标准化神经心理学测试，从健康受试者（对照组 [CG]；n = 23）和 AUD 患者（n = 18）的样本中收集数据。使用的标准化神经心理学测试包括问卷（注意力控制量表、巴瑞特冲动量表和认知灵活性量表）和特定测试（点探测任务、Go/No-go 测试、斯特鲁普测试、连线测试和伦敦塔测试）。结果表明，与 CG 相比，AUD 患者的 VCT、问卷和特定测试的相关性显著更高，主要与计划和认知转换能力有关。此外，VCT 表现的比较分析表明，AUD 患者比 CG 犯更多的错误，潜伏期更长。本研究提供了初步证据，表明更具生态有效性的评估可以成为检测许多神经心理和精神障碍影响日常活动的认知障碍的有用工具。
