Natural user interfaces and smart devices for the assessment of spatial memory using auditory stimuli

Zusammenfassung

In this thesis, the main objective was to design and develop a new task that combine Natural User Interfaces (NUI) and smart devices for assessing spatial memory using auditory stimuli, and its validation in both children and adults. The new task tests the ability of participants to detect and localize auditory stimuli that are emitted in different positions of the task area. The task recognizes the movements of the arms of the user using Kinect. Smart devices (Karotz rabbits) are used for emitting auditory stimuli and also as visual cues. Therefore, the task combines auditory stimuli with real visual cues for the assessment of spatial memory. The task includes a total of 45 acoustic stimuli, which should be randomly emitted in different locations. The task is composed of five different levels. Each level consists of 3 trials. The difference between levels lies in the number of sounds to be used in each trial. To our knowledge, our task is the first work that combines NUI and smart devices for the assessment of spatial memory. Similarly, our task is the first work that uses auditory stimuli to assess the spatial memory. For the validation, three studies were carried out to determine the efficacy and utility of our task with regard to the performance outcomes, usability, fun, perception and overall satisfaction. The performance of our task was compared with traditional methods. The first study involved children with and without symptoms of inattention. A total of 34 children participated (17 children with inattention). The results showed that the children with inattention showed statistically worse performance in the task. These children with inattention also showed statistically worse performance in the traditional method for testing the learning of verbal sounds. There were no statistically significant differences in the time spent by each group to complete the task. The results suggest that the task is a good tool for distinguishing spatial memory difficulties in children with inattention. The second study compared the performance in the task between older children and adults. A total of 70 participants were involved in this study. There were 32 healthy children from 9 to 10 years old, and 38 healthy adults from 18 to 28 years old. The performance outcomes with the task were significantly lower for the older children. Correlations were found between our task and traditional methods, indicating that our task has proven to be a valid tool for assessing spatial memory by using auditory stimuli for both older children and adults. From the analysis, we can conclude that the older children were significantly more satisfied with the task than the adults. In the third study, a total of 148 participants were involved. They were distributed in three groups (younger children, older children and adults). A total of 100 children and 48 adults participated in this study. The results are in line with the second study. The task performance was significantly incrementally and directly related to the age group (younger children -older children +adults). The results were better for adults and older children; this is consistent with the idea that adults can store more elements in short-term memory than children. The following general conclusions were extracted from the development and the studies: * Natural user interfaces and smart devices are appropriated for developing tasks for the assessment of spatial memory. * As a computer-based game, our task facilitates the control of the presentation of stimuli and the recording of responses. * Our task and similar tasks could be used for assessment and training of spatial memory in children and adults. * The task could be an alternative tool to assess spatial memory in children with symptoms of inattention. * The task promotes engagement and allows the assessment in an ecological way. * The task could help in the identification of alterations in spatial memory in both children and adults.