Project 1: Virtual Reality to Support Cognitive Health and Engagement and Socialization Among Aging Adults
Overview
Virtual reality (VR) systems provide an immersive and engaging experience that give users the realistic impression of being present in a context or situation outside their home, alone or with others. To date, few studies have examined usability and acceptance of VR applications or their efficacy with older adults or examined social or cognitive engagement applications. The purpose of this project is to evaluate and fill in crucial gaps in knowledge to ensure that individuals of all ages can use and benefit from emerging technologies to support important outcomes related to health, well-being, and cognition. The goal is to enable older adults to benefit from VR in their homes. We will first examine usability and acceptance of VR applications by older adults to identify preferences for applications within the targeted four domains of the planned VRT CAST program: training and new learning, cultural opportunities, social support, and leisure opportunities.
Principal Investigators
Sara J. Czaja, Ph.D.
Walter R. Boot, Ph.D.
Neil Charness, Ph.D.
Wendy A. Roger, Ph.D.
Key Personnel
Pallabi Bhowmick, Ph.D.
Marco Ceruso, Ph.D.
Atami De Main, Ph.D.
Avinash Gupta, Ph.D.
Saleh Kalantari, Ph.D.
Tracy Mitzner, Ph.D.
Bill Xu, Ph.D.
Shenghao Zhang, Ph.D.
Emre Eraslan, M.S.
Veronica Falcon Borbolla, B.S.
Products
Xu, T. B., Mostafavi, A., Boot, W. R., Czaja, S., & Kalantari, S. (2025). Assessing the feasibility and efficacy of virtual reality navigational training for older adults. Innovation in aging, 9(1), igae099.
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Boot, W. R., Dilanchian, A., Kalantari, S., & Czaja, S. J. (2024). Extended reality solutions to support older adults.
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Mois, G., Eraslan, E., Cheng, Q., Sun, T., Louis-Charles, W., Gupta, A., & Rogers, W. (2024). Understanding older adults’ interest in using virtual reality to support social engagement activities. Innovation in Aging, 8(Supplement_1), 1224.
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Boot, W. (2023). Virtual reality to support the needs of older adults with and without cognitive impairments. Innovation in Aging, 7(Suppl 1), 98.
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Borbolla, V. F., Boot, W., Dilanchian, A., Torres, A. S. G., Hernandez, M., Xu, B. T., … & Kim, B. (2023). Human factors issues in the design of virtual reality to support older adults’ social and cognitive engagement. Innovation in Aging, 7(Supplement_1), 1058-1058.
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Kalantari, S., Xu, T. B., Mostafavi, A., Kim, B., Dilanchian, A., Lee, A., … & Czaja, S. J. (2023). Using immersive virtual reality to enhance social interaction among older adults: A cross-site investigation. Innovation in Aging, 7(4), igad031.
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Xu, T., Mostafavi, A., Lee, A., Kim, B., Boot, W., Czaja S.J., & Kalantari S. (2023). Designing virtual environments for social engagement in older adults: A qualitative multi-site study. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1-15.
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Kalantari, S., Bill Xu, T., Mostafavi, A., Lee, A., Barankevich, R., Boot, W. R., & Czaja, S. J. (2022). Using a nature-based virtual reality environment for improving mood states and cognitive engagement in older adults: A mixed-method feasibility study. Innovation in aging, 6(3).
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Dilanchian, A. T., Andringa, R., & Boot, W. R. (2021). A pilot study exploring age differences in presence, workload, and cybersickness in the experience of immersive virtual reality environments. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2, 736793.
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Mitzner, T. L., McGlynn, S. A., & Rogers, W. A. (2021). Understanding spatial presence formation and maintenance in virtual reality for younger and older adults. Gerontechnology, 20(2).
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