Design of a Cognitive Motor Intervention Using a Video Game to Enhance Brain Activity: A Feasibility Study Including Healthy Participants and Heart Patients on the Intensive Care Unit

There is converging evidence at systems levels that physical exercise participation is beneficial to cognition, especially to the different subtypes of attention. Such evidence highlights the importance of promoting physical exercise to prevent or reverse cognitive and neural decline. Accordingly, physical exercise can serve to promote function in patients. Physical exercise games may be engaged to gauge performance increases in motor learning and early rehabilitation programs as performed on an intensive care unit.

This project proposes the development and design of a cognitive motor intervention using a custom video game (which will be performed in supine position in bed) to enhance brain activity and describes the feasibility, safety and acceptability of virtual augmented video dance gaming.

This project is divided in two (2) phases:

Phase1 The patients are not expected to exercise the video game in the usual standing position due to their condition. Thus, we designed a patient friendly construction with colleagues of the construction department of the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen, Switzerland), which enables video game exercising in supine position. This construction and custom video game will be tested first in healthy participants for feasibility, acceptability and safety. Furthermore, brain activity of the participants will be measured and evaluated, before during and shortly after playing the video game in 15 healthy participants.

Phase 2 After the device and procedures tested in phase 1 is feasible, acceptable and safe, maximal 10 patients on the ICU ward (receiving elective heart surgery, will be recruited to evaluate the feasibility, safety, acceptability and effect on brain function of a custom video exercise game.