Virtual reality (VR) systems are becoming increasingly affordable for the general population. These technologies have potentially beneficial applications in a wide variety of contexts. Primary considerations for enhancing VR experiences in these contexts are the level of immersion enabled by the technology and the level of presence experienced by the user. Older adults are often overlooked during the design and application of VR technologies, even though these types of systems may help overcome certain aspects of the age-related challenges and limitations that they experience. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the applications of VR for older adults and to identify characteristics of older users that could impact the way they experience these advanced technologies. This review culminates in design recommendations for increasing the likelihood that the immersiveness of the VR system has its intended effect on the experience of virtual presence for older adults.
References
1.
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2013). Administration on Aging. A profile of older Americans: 2011.
2.
De BruinE. D.SchoeneD.PichierriG.SmithS. T. (2010). Use of virtual reality technique for the training of motor control in the elderly. Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie, 43(4), 229-234.
3.
BystromK. E.BarfieldW.HendrixC. (1999). A conceptual model of the sense of presence in virtual environments. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 8(2), 241-244.
4.
CarstensenL. L.MikelsJ. A. (2005). At the intersection of emotion and cognition aging and the positivity effect. Current directions in psychological science, 14(3), 117-121.
5.
CarstensenL. L.Turk-CharlesS. (1994). The salience of emotion across the adult life span. Psychology and aging, 9(2), 259.
6.
CavanaughJ.Blanchard-FieldsF. (2014). Adult development and aging. Nelson Education.
7.
CharlesS. T.MatherM.CarstensenL. L. (2003). Aging and emotional memory: the forgettable nature of negative images for older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132(2), 310.
8.
CraikF. I.ByrdM. (1982). Aging and cognitive deficits. In Aging and cognitive processes (pp. 191-211). Springer US.
9.
DobrevaM. S.O’NeillW. E.PaigeG. D. (2011). Influence of aging on human sound localization. Journal of neurophysiology, 105(5), 2471-2486.
10.
DuncanJ.HumphreysG. (1992). Beyond the search surface: visual search and attentional engagement.
11.
FiskA. D.RogersW. A.CharnessN.CzajaS. J.SharitJ. (2009). Designing for older adults: Principles and creative human factors approaches. CRC press.
12.
FungH. H.CarstensenL. L. (2003). Sending memorable messages to the old: age differences in preferences and memory for advertisements. Journal of personality and social psychology, 85(1), 163.
13.
GazzaleyA.CooneyJ. W.RissmanJ.D’espositoM. (2005). Top-down suppression deficit underlies working memory impairment in normal aging. Nature neuroscience, 8(10), 1298-1300.
14.
GliskyE. L. (2007). Changes in cognitive function in human aging. Brain aging: Models, methods, and mechanisms, 3-20.
15.
GoldsteinE. B.BrockmoleJ. (2016). Sensation and perception. Cengage Learning.
16.
GuttentagD. A. (2010). Virtual reality: Applications and implications for tourism. Tourism Management, 31(5), 637-651.
17.
HarringtonC. N.HartleyJ. Q.MitznerT. L.RogersW. A. (2015). Assessing older adults’ usability challenges using Kinect-based exergames. Proceedings of the Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population Conference (pp. 488-499).
18.
HaradaC. N.LoveM. C. N.TriebelK. L. (2013). Normal cognitive aging. Clinics in geriatric medicine, 29(4), 737-752.
19.
HertzogC.DunloskyJ. (2011). Metacognition in Later Adulthood Spared Monitoring Can Benefit Older Adults’ Self-Regulation. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(3), 167-173.
20.
HodgesL. F.KooperR.MeyerT. C.RothbaumB. O.OpdykeD.de GraaffJ. J.. . . NorthM. M. (1995). Virtual environments for treating the fear of heights. Computer, 28(7), 27-34.
21.
HoffmanH. G. (2004). Virtual-reality therapy. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN-AMERICAN EDITION, 291, 58-65.
22.
HoffmanH. G.HullfishK. C.HoustonS. J. (1995, March). Virtual-reality monitoring. In Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium, 1995. Proceedings. (pp. 48-54). IEEE.
JeraldJ. (2015). The VR book: Human-centered design for virtual reality. Morgan & Claypool.
25.
KimJ.SonJ.KoN.YoonB. (2013). Unsupervised virtual reality-based exercise program improves hip muscle strength and balance control in older adults: a pilot study. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 94(5), 937-943.
26.
KnickmanJ. R.SnellE. K. (2002). The 2030 problem: caring for aging baby boomers. Health services research, 37(4), 849-884.
27.
LawtonM. P. (1990). Aging and performance of home tasks. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 32(5), 527-536.
28.
ManiaK.ChalmersA. (2000). A user-centered methodology for investigating presence and task performance.
29.
McGeeJ. S.van der ZaagC.BuckwalterJ. G.ThiébauxM.Van RooyenA.NeumannU.. . . RizzoA. A. (2000). Issues for the assessment of visuospatial skills in older adults using virtual environment technology. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3(3), 469-482.
30.
MirelmanA.MaidanI.HermanT.DeutschJ. E.GiladiN.HausdorffJ. M. (2010). Virtual reality for gait training: can it induce motor learning to enhance complex walking and reduce fall risk in patients with Parkinson’s disease?. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, glq201.
31.
MitznerT. L.ChenT. L.KempC. C.RogersW. A. (2011, September). Older adults’ needs for assistance as a function of living environment. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 152-156). Sage Publications.
32.
MolinaK. I.RicciN. A.de MoraesS. A.PerraciniM. R. (2014). Virtual reality using games for improving physical functioning in older adults: a systematic review. Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 11(1), 156.
33.
PaepckeS.TakayamaL. (2010, March). Judging a bot by its cover: an experiment on expectation setting for personal robots. In Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2010 5th ACM/IEEE International Conference on (pp. 45-52). IEEE.
34.
PlassmanB. L.WilliamsJ. W.BurkeJ. R.HolsingerT.BenjaminS. (2010). Systematic review: factors associated with risk for and possible prevention of cognitive decline in later life. Annals of Internal Medicine, 153(3), 182-193.
35.
RizzoA. A.WiederholdM. D.BuckwalterJ. G. (1998). Basic issues in the use of virtual environments for mental health applications. Studies in health technology and informatics, 21-42.
36.
RogersW. A. (2000). Attention and aging. In ParkD. C.SchwarzN. (Eds.), Cognitive aging: A primer (pp. 57-73). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
37.
Sanchez-VivesM. V.SlaterM. (2005). From presence to consciousness through virtual reality. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(4), 332-339.
38.
SchneiderS. M.HoodL. E. (2007, January). Virtual reality: a distraction intervention for chemotherapy. In Oncology nursing forum (Vol. 34, No. 1, p. 39). NIH Public Access.
39.
SchroederR. (2002). Social interaction in virtual environments: Key issues, common themes, and a framework for research. In The social life of avatars (pp. 1-18). Springer London.
40.
SchuemieM. J.Van Der StraatenP.KrijnM.Van Der MastC. A. (2001). Research on presence in virtual reality: A survey. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 4(2), 183-201.
41.
SlaterM.BrogniA.SteedA. (2003, October). Physiological responses to breaks in presence: A pilot study. In Presence 2003: The 6th Annual International Workshop on Presence (Vol. 157). Citeseer.
42.
SlaterM.WilburS. (1997). A framework for immersive virtual environments (FIVE): Speculations on the role of presence in virtual environments. Presence: Teleoperators and virtual environments, 6(6), 603-616.
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2013). Administration on Aging. A profile of older Americans: 2011.
45.
VerhaeghenP.CerellaJ. (2002). Aging, executive control, and attention: a review of meta-analyses. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 26(7), 849-857.
46.
VictorC.ScamblerS.BondJ.BowlingA. (2000). Being alone in later life: loneliness, social isolation and living alone. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 10(04), 407-417.
47.
VincentG. K.VelkoffV. A. (2010). The next four decades: The older population in the United States: 2010 to 2050 (No. 1138). US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau.
48.
WitmerB. G.SingerM. J. (1998). Measuring presence in virtual environments: A presence questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and virtual environments, 7(3), 225-240.
