Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major global problem. Neuropsychological studies have shown that AUD causes deficits in executive functions (EFs), a set of higher order cognitive skills that govern individual behavior in everyday situations. Many standardized neuropsychological tests are used to evaluate EF. These are reliable and valid but have limitations in predicting real-life performance. To address this, we present a preliminary study to test the virtual cooking task (VCT) as an alternative to standardized neuropsychological tests. The VCT includes four subtasks developed to assess attentional, planning, and cognitive shifting abilities; it was tested in an immersive three-dimensional environment. To evaluate the VCT performance and standardized neuropsychological tests, data were gathered from a sample of healthy subjects (control group [CG]; n = 23) and AUD patients (n = 18). The standardized neuropsychological measures used consisted of questionnaires (Attentional Control Scale, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and Cognitive Flexibility Scale) and specific tests (Dot-probe task, Go/No-go test, Stroop test, the trail making test, and Tower of London test). The results showed significant higher correlations for AUD patients than for the CG for the VCT, questionnaires, and specific tests, mainly related to planning and cognitive shifting abilities. Furthermore, comparative analyses of the VCT performance showed that the AUD patients made more errors and had higher latency times than the CG. The present study provides initial evidence that a more ecologically valid assessment can be a useful tool to detect cognitive impairments in many neuropsychological and mental disorders, affecting daily activities.

中文翻译：

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虚拟烹饪任务：神经心理学和生态虚拟现实测试之间的初步比较，以评估受酒精使用障碍影响的患者的执行功能变化

酒精使用障碍 (AUD) 是一个主要的全球性问题。神经心理学研究表明，AUD 会导致执行功能 (EF) 出现缺陷，这是一组在日常情况下控制个人行为的高级认知技能。许多标准化的神经心理学测试用于评估 EF。这些是可靠且有效的，但在预测现实生活中的性能方面存在局限性。为了解决这个问题，我们提出了一项初步研究来测试虚拟烹饪任务 (VCT) 作为标准化神经心理学测试的替代方案。VCT 包括四个子任务，用于评估注意力、计划和认知转移能力；它在沉浸式 3D 环境中进行了测试。为了评估 VCT 的表现和标准化的神经心理学测试，n  = 23) 和 AUD 患者 ( n = 18）。使用的标准化神经心理学测量包括问卷（注意力控制量表、Barratt 冲动量表和认知灵活性量表）和特定测试（点探任务、通过/不通过测试、Stroop 测试、小路测试和伦敦塔测试）。结果显示，AUD 患者的相关性显着高于 VCT、问卷和特定测试的 CG，主要与计划和认知转移能力有关。此外，VCT 性能的比较分析表明，与 CG 相比，AUD 患者犯了更多的错误并且延迟时间更长。本研究提供了初步证据，表明更生态有效的评估可以成为检测影响日常活动的许多神经心理和精神障碍中的认知障碍的有用工具。