Innovations in Cognitive and Psychological Assessment: Integrating Immersive VR Technologies for Enhanced Ecological Validity – Volume II

Traditional neuropsychological and psychological assessment presents significant limitations in terms of ecological validity, as conventional methods often fail to adequately reproduce real-life situations. While patients may demonstrate strong performance in structured clinical environments, they might encounter significant difficulties in daily activities, not only at a cognitive level but also in social interactions and emotional management. This discrepancy can lead to an incomplete assessment of an individual's true capabilities, limiting the effectiveness of intervention strategies. The implementation of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, encompassing computer-generated scenarios and 360° videos, offers a promising solution to this challenge. These immersive virtual environments can enable ecologically valid assessments of cognitive, social, and emotional functions. Specifically, virtual environments can simulate realistic challenges such as managing complex social situations, responding to emotional stimuli, performing workplace multitasking, or navigating crowded urban environments. In addition to ecological validity, immersive VR environments provide a unique opportunity to collect rich multimodal datasets during assessment. VR systems can capture detailed behavioral and interaction metrics, including navigation patterns, task performance, kinematic data, gaze behavior and physiological responses. These multimodal data types may serve as potential digital biomarkers of cognitive, emotional and behavioral functioning. Integrating behavioral, kinematic, gaze and physiological measures collected in immersive environments may allow to obtain a more comprehensive and objective characterization of cognitive and psychological processes in real-world-like contexts.The core problem this research topic aims to address is the limited ecological validity of current neuropsychological and psychological assessment methods, which can lead to an inadequate understanding of patients' real-world functioning. To enhance ecological validity, we propose integrating both 360° videos and/or computer-generated VR environments into assessment protocols to simulate real-world scenarios with varying levels of complexity and experimental control. Manuscripts relating to the following themes and scopes are particularly welcomed: 1) Theoretical Frameworks and Methodologies: • Development of innovative assessment protocols utilizing either computer-generated VR environments or 360° videos • Experimental design considerations: technical specifications, optimization, and integration of different technologies • Aspects of spatial audio, tracking, realism, and immersion • Methodologies for evaluating emotional and behavioral responses in virtual environments 2) Assessment Domains:• Use of virtual environments to assess cognitive functions (processing speed, attention, memory, executive functions, spatial navigation) • Assessment of social skills, emotional regulation, and personality traits in virtual environments • Comparative research between traditional and immersive technology-based testing methodologies • Simulation techniques for evaluating daily living activities and social interactions 3) Clinical Applications: • Use of VR and 360° technologies to enhance diagnosis and treatment planning • Case studies demonstrating practical application in clinical settings • Analysis of application across different populations (pediatric, adult, geriatric) • Assessment of emotional and personality disorders through virtual scenarios. 4) Multimodal Data and Digital Biomarkers in VR-based Assessment• Use of behavioral telemetry and interaction metrics in VR environments for cognitive assessment• Integration of kinematic, gaze and physiological data collected during immersive tasks• Development of digital biomarkers derived from VR-based behavioral and physiological signals• Multimodal approaches combining behavioral performance with physiological and neural measuresOriginal research articles, systematic reviews, perspective and commentary articles, and methodological analyses are all welcome for submission. Contributions may consist of theoretical, technical, clinical, or experimental work. Topic editors: Jorge Oliveira, Elisa Pedroli Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79071/innovations-in-cognitive-and-psychological-assessment-integrating-immersive-vr-technologies-for-enhanced-ecological-validity---volume-ii