The pet robot as a remediation tool in institutions

Kerem TAHAN, Psychologist specialized in gerontology, doctoral student at Université de Bordeaux, France

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a robot as a cognitive trainer in older adults with dementia and cognitive impairment. 52 institutionalized older adults were recruited and invited to participate in prospective memory training sessions with and without a robot. They were divided into two equivalent groups in terms of age, education level and MMSE score. Before and after the intervention phase, a neuropsychological assessment was performed on each participant. The data indicated that prospective memory training with a robot resulted in a significant increase in prospective memory performance, attentional abilities and executive functioning. These results were also observed in the control group. No significant difference was found between the two experimental conditions (Control VS Experiment) but these results confirm the positive impact of a robot as a mediator of cognitive training. We also observed the number of interactions between EHPAD residents during prospective memory re-training sessions. For this, we used the Social Observation Behaviors Residents Index (SOBRI). The results show that the experimental group, through the presence of the robot, has a greater number of appearances of positive behaviors than the control group. Specifically, there was an increase in verbal interactions between the residents, a greater number of mutual glances, but also a more significant presence of laughter and smiles.