Immersive Technology and the Elderly: A Mini-Review
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2015
Abstract
Technologies that provide immersive experiences continue to become more ubiquitous across all age groups. This paper presents a review of the literature to provide a snapshot of the current state of research involving the use of immersive technologies and the elderly. A narrative literature review was conducted using the ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, Springerlink and ERIC databases to summarize primary studies from which conclusions were drawn into a holistic interpretation. The majority of the studies examined the effect of immersive technologies on elder peoples' age-related declines, including sensory and motor changes (vision, hearing, motor skills), cognitive changes and social changes. Various immersive technologies have been described and tested to address these age-related changes, and have been categorized as ‘games and simulations', ‘robotics' and ‘social technologies'. In most cases, promising results were found for immersive technologies to challenge age-related declines, especially through the increase of morale.
Publication Information
Shelton, Brett E. and Uz, Cigdem. (2015). "Immersive Technology and the Elderly: A Mini-Review". Gerontology, 61(2), 175-185. https://doi.org/10.1159/000365754