A web platform of serious games for cognitive rehabilitation: Architecture and usability study

Abstract

In recent years Serious Games have gained a new importance, very driven by the proliferation of video games and its application in diverse areas. Cognitive rehabilitation is a major area where Serious Games can assume a relevant role. Traditional cognitive therapies quickly become repetitive and discouraging for patients. To mitigate these problems, Serious Games based tools are necessary to create more dynamic rehabilitation processes, holding the attention of the patients throughout the process and motivating them during their road to recovery. This paper describes a web platform for Serious Games in cognitive rehabilitation that integrates a set of features that include natural and multimodal user interfaces and social features (collaboration, competition and handicapping) which can be used to augment the motivation of patients during the rehabilitation process. Results observed in a study with healthy subjects indicate that the platform offers good usability.