People with dementia experiencing presence in mixed reality technologies

Abstract

Abstract Background Mixed Reality Technologies (MRTs) spanning the physical-virtual continuum offer possibilities for machine-based prompting to support people with dementia. The effectiveness of MRTs requires users to experience ?presence? ? the feeling of being there and the illusion of non- mediation by the technology - which has not been explored in dementia. Method Participants with mild to moderate dementia aged between 63-90 years of age played games on two MRTs: Tangram on Osmo (Augmented Virtuality) and Young Conker on Hololens (Augmented Reality) in separate sessions to explore their experience of presence and look at their responses to prompts in the games. The sessions were video-recorded for analysis with Noldus Observer XT 14.1 to identify themes relating to presence and responses to prompts. Result Three themes relating to the experience of presence were identified: 1. Affordances and perceptual elements, 2. Degree of realism and 3. Social element. Participants responded differently to visual and verbal prompts in the games. Conclusion People with dementia experience presence in MRTs that is mediated by the clues in the visual auditory and material properties of the physical and virtual elements of the games. These findings have design implications for future development of MRTs to support people with dementia.