VIRTUÁLNÍ MĚSTO PRO KOGNITIVNÍ TRÉNINK V EKOLOGICKY VALIDNÍM PROSTŘEDÍ

The main aim of this paper is to present to professional community a training application Vrcity, which enables comprehensive training of cognitive abilities in the virtual city environment. the program was tested in the population of healthy seniors. Based on selected results, we demonstrate the validity of individual paradigms, main principles applied in the training system in general (use of game scenarios) or in individual serious games (the effect of adjustable parameters on the performance of the tested person in terms of increasing difficulty level). the tasks are designed as simulations of daily activities in order to increase the ecological validity of the training. in addition, the proposed system allows the use of cognitive training combining repetition of tasks with increasing difficulty and the practice of strategies potentially transferable to everyday activities. the training program is designed not only for the elderly population to form a cognitive „reserve“, it can be utilized also in clinical groups with an emphasis on neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders with cognitive symptoms.