Designing a Mobile Application for Working Memory Training through Understanding the Psychological and Physiological Characteristics of Older Adults

Di Zhu, Yuchen Jing, Ruonan Huang, Yan Gao, Yue Liu, Zheng Zou () and Wei Liu ()
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Di Zhu: School of Design and Architecture, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne 3122, Australia
Yuchen Jing: Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Ruonan Huang: Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Yan Gao: Software Technology Center Asia, Microsoft, Beijing 518057, China
Yue Liu: Department of Community Product Design, ZCOOL Network Technology, Beijing 100016, China
Zheng Zou: Stanford Center at Peking University, Stanford University, Beijing 100871, China
Wei Liu: Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: Cognitive function declines with age, and when cognitive deterioration reaches a critical value and pathological changes occur, the brain neurons are irreversible. The aging of working memory even has profound adverse effects on older adults. This study aims to understand the psychological and physiological characteristics of older adults and to achieve mobile application design solutions that train working memory. According to the user study, the factors influencing the design of mobile applications for working memory training for older adults were mainly focused on six dimensions: training content, motivation, emotion, interaction, current state, and experience. Design opportunities were transformed, and seven new design strategies were obtained. Nine product functions with the highest priority were selected: daily practice, challenge mode, level-by-level difficulty selection, novice teaching, practice mode, sharing function, two-player mode, ranking, and desktop components. Finally, an interactive prototype was designed for usability testing, and the product solution was iterated based on expert evaluation and user feedback. The results indicate that the interface design provides a good user experience when applied daily. The process and results will be applied to make more solutions for training cognitive functions to be used in different situations.

Keywords: aging; older adults; working memory; cognitive training; mobile application design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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