Virtual Reality and Electrodermal Activity to Support Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Literature Review

This review explores mild cognitive impairment support, focusing on virtual reality (VR) applications coupled with electrodermal activity (EDA). A systematic review and meta-analysis using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement were performed from an original inquiry of 698 articles from 11 digital libraries. An independent review of selected studies assessed the risk of bias and obtained data. The meta-analysis included 44 studies, with a total number of 9099 participants in all the papers reviewed were split into (5200) cognitive or (2304) non-cognitive impairments. The proportion of cognitive versus non-cognitive had a first risk difference (RD = 0.32; p-value = 0.0001). The comparison of female to male participants showed (OR = 6.10; p-value = 0.00001). Anxiety, depression, and stress conditions had the effect of (SMD = -0.39; p-value = 0.09). In the analysis, the general lack of research restricts virtual reality and electrodermal activity to sustain mild cognitive impairments. Forty-five excluded papers applied data from pre-2017. Two studies with 46 participants had a result of (SMD = 0.60; p-value = 0.31). Identifying VR and EDA-based studies investigating training and rehabilitation to support MCI symptoms in individuals.