A Virtual Kitchen Protocol to Measure Everyday Memory Functioning for Meal Preparation

• Main Authors: Michael D. Barnett, Lucas G. Childers, Thomas D. Parsons
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Brain Sciences
• Subjects: activities of daily living; instrumental activities of daily living; computer use; older adults; verbal memory; visual memory
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/5/571

In this study, we developed the Virtual Kitchen Protocol (VKP), a virtual reality-based measure of everyday memory functioning for meal preparation tasks. We investigated the construct validity of the VKP by comparing the performance of young adults (<i>n</i> = 41) and older adults without (<i>n</i> = 52) and with (<i>n</i> = 7) a neurocognitive diagnosis, as well as by examining correlations with standardized measures of verbal and visual memory. The results show that young adults had higher recall than older adults and that the VKP was sensitive to neurocognitive impairment among older adults. The VKP demonstrated moderate to high correlations with other memory tests. These results support the construct validity of the VKP and suggest that it holds promise as a virtual reality-based measure of memory for meal preparation tasks.