To begin, equip the participant with a mobile electroencephalography device. Ensure the participant is seated comfortably with their feet on the floor. Present on screen instructions, prompting participants to visit landmarks and recall paths in a cityscape.
Then instruct the participant to use the mouse in left click to initiate the task. Confirm that the participant comprehends the requirement to navigate the environment using the W, A, S and D keys on their keyboard. Ensure the participant is aware that they can utilize the computer mouse to adjust the subject's point of view simulating head movement.
Ask the participant to follow a green path with green arrows to visit the first landmarks. Then instruct the participant to walk through the green diamond at that location. After collecting the green diamond, ask the participant to follow the path to visit the next landmark.
Once the participant arrives at the second landmark, instruct them to walk through the green diamond at that location. In the remembering phase, instruct the participant to revisit each landmark. Then, use the mouse and left click on top of Begin.
Ask the participant to visit the first landmark that they visited during the encoding phase and deliver a unique item to the first landmark. Once the participant delivers the item, navigate to the second landmark and deliver the next unique item. Instruct the participant to use the mouse to left click on top of begin.
Recall the landmarks they visited and the items they delivered in the exact order as instructed earlier in the remembering phase. Instruct the participant to read the final prompt to confirm the completion of the task and the submission of the data. Once the task is completed, locate the results.
CSB file in the applications directory. Use the raw data to calculate the appropriate scores, including start time, end time, average seek duration, place score, item score, order score, association score, and episodic memory score. Initial pre-intervention tests revealed an average completion time of 318.69 seconds and an average seek time of 82.88 seconds for the five sites, reflecting spatial navigation ability.
Furthermore, participants successfully encoded various aspects of the virtual experience indicative of their episodic memory capacity. Both total time and average seek time, displayed significant correlations with the episodic memory score suggesting a connection between spatial navigation and episodic memory. Preliminary findings showed a significant correlation between age and spatial navigation ability with older age correlating with decreased spatial navigation skills.
A significant association was observed between the number of cycling classes, average seek duration, and total seek time.