Study on the Quantitative Evaluation of Convergence-Divergence Motion Using Head-Mounted Display with Gaze Measurement Function

Early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is important for delaying cognitive decline. However, because MCI is a condition in which certain cognitive functions are impaired without interfering with daily life, its early detection of is difficult to achieve. An impaired visuospatial ability, one of the first symptoms of dementia, is a cognitive disorder that causes problems in recognizing the spatial location of objects and the spatial positional relationships of multiple objects. A quantitative assessment of impaired visuospatial ability would therefore be useful for the early detection of MCI. In this study, we developed virtual reality (VR) content to quantitatively evaluate the user’s depth perception using a head-mounted display (HMD) with a gaze measurement function. We also conducted a preliminary experiment to evaluate the VR content developed for a younger group prior to targeting a group of MCI patients. In this experiment, the influence of the user’s visual function on the measurement results was investigated. Consequently, neither the user’s visual acuity nor the interpupillary distance affected the measurement results.