Hello,
We are a team of 4 students driven by the goal of making the world a better place. Our members are:
We are pleased to introduce to you our solution: Cogny
Background:
The older adult population is increasing drastically in the developed countries. Projections show that by the year 2050, the number of older adults aged 60 and over will rise to nearly 2.1 billion. In Portugal, the rate by which the population is ageing is particularly high. In 1950, the number of older adults aged 65 and over accounted for 7% of the population in Portugal. Today, this proportion is over 23%. With this growth, the need of more solutions to address their needs, increases as well.
Several researchers have focused on trying to identify different approaches to improve and delay the aging process. It’s been found that one of the most effective prevention mechanisms against the neurodegenerative effects of aging lies in maintaining or enhancing the brain’s cognitive-reserve capacity.
An individual’s cognitive reserve capacity is reflected in their individual cognitive trajectories.
The Problem(s):
One of the most effective prevention mechanisms against the neurodegenerative effects of aging lies in maintaining or enhancing the brain’s cognitive-reserve capacity. An individual’s cognitive reserve capacity is reflected in their individual cognitive trajectories. The problem we’re faced with is that there is no current way for either the older adult or their caregiver to track and improve cognitive health in a personalized and universally accessible manner. The consequences of this can be several:
Our Solution:
Cogny - The virtual friend that will help you keep track of your brain changes and will help you remain the best you possible.
Our goal is to identify a persons individual trajectory and present adapted cognitive games. Cogny not only provides the necessary stimulation to maintain the older adults cognitive functions essential to independent and happy living, but also the needed entertainment that captivates the older adult and makes them keep wanting to check up on their Cogny.
Cogny is a virtual companion designed to track cognitive trajectories over time and address the changes in a personalized manner. It is a user-friendly mobile application that gradually adapts to the capabilities of the users in a stimulating and entertaining way, while also informing the caregiver with a qualitative perspective. The interface of this mobile application was designed with the needs of senior citizens in mind, as well as the degree of comfort most people within this population have with technologies such as smartphones and tablets. To achieve this, we developed a simple yet engaging and appealing interface, using gamification to both captivate the attention of the user, and to generate interest in repetitive usage.
Impact:
Using Cogny to learn and predict an individual’s cognitive trajectory has benefits at the individual and global levels:
Individual
Global
References:
[1] Buckley, R., & Pascual‐Leone, A. (2020). Age‐related cognitive decline is indicative of neuropathology. Annals of Neurology, 87(6), 813-815.
[2] Wilson, R. S., Wang, T., Yu, L., Bennett, D. A., & Boyle, P. A. (2020). Normative cognitive decline in old age. Annals of Neurology, 87(6), 816-829.
[3] Christie, G. J., Hamilton, T., Manor, B. D., Farb, N. A., Farzan, F., Sixsmith, A., ... & Moreno, S. (2017). Do lifestyle activities protect against cognitive decline in aging? A review. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 9, 381.
APK cognitive games download: https://github.com/Andrerod98/Cogny/raw/master/app-release.apk
Github cognitive games: https://github.com/Andrerod98/Cogny
Figma application prototype: https://www.figma.com/proto/BrtG3FFrIAAq3a3c08qCED/Untitled?node-id=28%3A38&scaling=scale-down
Initial Video Submission: https://youtu.be/rAY7Jf7jYR0