Usability and Effectiveness of Immersive Virtual Grocery Shopping for Assessing Cognitive Fatigue in Healthy Controls: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Cognitive fatigue (CF) is a human response to stimulation and stress that is a common comorbidity in many medical conditions that can result in serious consequences, yet it is difficult to study under controlled conditions. Immersive virtual reality provides an experimental environment that enables precise measurement of an individual’s response to complex stimuli in a controlled environment. OBJECTIVE We propose to develop an immersive virtual shopping experience to measure subjective and objective indicators of cognitive fatigue induced by an instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). METHODS We propose to recruit 84 healthy participants aged 18-75 for a two-phase study. Phase 1 is a user experience (UX) study to test the software functionality, user interface, and realism of the virtual shopping environment. Phase 2 employs a 3-arm randomized control trial to determine the effect of the immersive environment on fatigue. Participants will be randomized into one of three conditions exploring fatigue response during a typical human activity (grocery shopping) while varying the level of cognitive and emotional challenge. The primary outcome of phase 1 is the experience of user-interface difficulties. The primary outcome of phase 2 is self-reported cognitive fatigue. Core secondary phase two outcomes include subjective cognitive load, change in task performance behavior and eye-tracking. Phase two utilizes within-subjects repeated measures ANOVA to compare pre- and post-fatigue measures under three conditions (control, cognitive challenge, emotional challenge). RESULTS This study was approved by the scientific review committee of the National Institute of Nursing Research and identified as an exempt study by Institutional Review Board of the National Institutes of Health. Data collection will begin Spring 2021. CONCLUSIONS Immersive VR may be a useful research platform for simulating induction of cognitive fatigue associated with the cognitive and emotional challenges of an instrumental activity of daily living.