Assessing goal-directed behavior in virtual reality with the neuropsychological task EPELI: children prefer head-mounted display but flat screen provides a viable performance measure for remote testing

Background and objective: EPELI (Executive Performance of Everyday LIving) is a Virtual Reality (VR) task that was developed to study goal-directed behavior in everyday life contexts children. In this study, we had 72 typically developing 9- 13-year-old children play with an immersive version implemented head-mounted display (HMD) non-immersive employing flat screen (FSD) counterbalanced order see if the two versions yield similar results. The children’s executive functions were assessed parent-rated Behavior Rating Inventory for Executive Functions (BRIEF) questionnaire. To assess applicability online testing, half gameplays conducted remotely rest laboratory. Results: All performance measures correlated across versions. mostly versions, but small effects reflecting higher FSD-EPELI found Total score, Task efficacy, Time-based prospective memory score. engaged more active time monitoring FSD-EPELI. While evaluated feeling presence usability both favorably, most preferred HMD-EPELI, its environment be involving realistic. Both showed only negligible problems interface quality. No differences or subjective evaluations between home-based laboratory-based assessments efficacy BRIEF on first assessment, not second. This raises questions about stability associations reported function tasks questionnaires. Conclusions: HMD FSD are viable tools naturalistic assessment provides user experience movement tracking, can maximize scalability, reachability, cost as it used common hardware remotely. Taken together, findings highlight similarities cognitively complex VR task, also underline specific advantages these presentation modes.