Mind gymnastics for good intellectual health of elderly people - MindGym

Abstract

MindGym aims at improving the quality of life of older citizens and their caregivers by applying mind gymnastics that will keep the elderly active in vital mental shape. We plan to realize multidisciplinary research and innovation actions to achieve the following objectives: understanding the mental health conditions, preventing disruptive mental disorders and their early diagnosis, and mind gymnastic treatment. The target of this research is to influence mental conditions that lead to some mental disorders, such as depression, dementia, sedentariness, cognitive decline and personality disorders, which are present in older people, but can also be experienced earlier. The initial, understanding phase includes scanning mind activities using different audio-visual stimuli, by applying the sophisticated fMRI and EEG technologies to identify the regions of the brain that demonstrate increased activation with positive stimuli. Prevention is based on analysis and correlation of the results and will enable the development of a methodology for increasing mind activities drawing on the conclusions from experts about which audio-visual stimuli support the best mind gymnastic; as well as matching the results on various socio-economic, gender, religious, environmental and physical factors. An interactive system based on recommended audio-visual content, IPTV, social networks, cloud enabled devices and applications will be developed as a prototype tool for creating everyday mind gymnastics. Early diagnosis of mental reactions will be determined by EEG or fMRI technologies for various stimuli, enabling conditions to detect abnormal changes in the brain activity. This paper gives an overview of current research and projects in the area. It defines the basic objectives of planned MindGym research activities.