Background: Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to assess brain activity while users are playing an immersive serious game. Objective: To assess differences in brain activation as measured with a non-intrusive wearable EEG device, differences in game performance and correlations between EEG power, game performance and global cognition, between cognitively impaired and non-impaired older adults, during the administration of a novel self-administered serious game-based test, the Virtual Supermarket Test (VST). Methods: 43 older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and 33 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were recruited from day centers for cognitive disorders. Global cognition was assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Brain activity was measured with a non-intrusive wearable EEG device in a resting state condition and while they were administered the VST. Results: During resting state condition, the MCI group showed increased alpha, beta, delta, and theta band power compared to the SCD group. During the administration of the VST, the MCI group showed increased beta and theta band power compared to the SCD group. Regarding game performance, alpha, beta, delta, and theta rhythms correlated with average duration, while delta rhythm was positively correlated with mean errors. MoCA correlated with alpha, beta, delta, and theta rhythms and with average game duration and mean game errors indicating that elevated EEG rhythms in MCI may be associated with an overall cognitive decline. Conclusion: VST performance can be used as a digital biomarker. Cheap commercially available wearable EEG devices can be used for obtaining brain activity biomarkers.

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Although Augmented Reality (AR) technology has entered many market and knowledge domains such as games and leisure activities, it remains rather limited in digital heritage. After studying the potentiality of using modern AR elements in a museum context, this paper proposes the use of additional game and educational elements in the core AR application in order to enhance the overall on-the-spot museum visitor’s experience. An agile AR application design methodology was followed by taking into account the needs of small-to-medium sized real-world museums. Moreover, a heuristic evaluation protocol was applied by a group of experts in order to test the proof-of-concept AR application, in which some novel elements were proposed such as the AR quiz game. The main findings indicate that enhanced AR experiences in museum settings can make a nice fit with the user environment, physical and perceptual abilities, known metaphors, and user position and motion in 3D space. Moreover, AR services can be provided under a minimum distraction and physical effort. As a conclusion, AR technologies are mature enough to be standardized for museum usage, while the audience seems to be ready to take advantage of the related enhanced museum experiences to maximize both user satisfaction and learning outcomes.