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Assessing everyday action in young adult athletes using the Virtual Kitchen Challenge: Relations with conventional cognitive tests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2025

Rachel E. Mis ,
Taisei Ando ,
Takehiko Yamaguchi ,
Caroline Brough ,
Leah Michalski ,
Linda J. Hoffman ,
Ingrid R. Olson  and
Tania Giovannetti Open the ORCID record for Tania Giovannetti [Opens in a new window]
Rachel E. Mis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Taisei Ando
Affiliation:
Applied Information Engineering, Suwa University of Science, Nagano, Japan
Takehiko Yamaguchi
Affiliation:
Applied Information Engineering, Suwa University of Science, Nagano, Japan
Caroline Brough
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Leah Michalski
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Linda J. Hoffman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Ingrid R. Olson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Tania Giovannetti*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Tania Giovannetti; Email: tgio@temple.edu
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Abstract

Objective:

The ability to efficiently complete everyday tasks was evaluated with a novel, performance-based test called the Virtual Kitchen Challenge (VKC) in college athletes. Analyses focused on the effect of practice and associations between the VKC and conventional measures of cognition.

Method:

81 college athletes with and without self-reported concussion completed conventional cognitive tests and the VKC, a nonimmersive virtual-reality task that requires manipulating virtual objects on a touch screen to prepare a breakfast and lunch under two conditions: 1) Training condition with feedback and 2) Test condition without feedback. VKC performance was scored for completion time, percent of time working on-screen, number of interactions with target and distractor objects. Paired t-tests compared VKC Training and Test conditions, correlations examined relations between VKC performance and cognitive tests.

Results:

VKC performance was significantly better after practice, as noted by faster completion time, fewer screen interactions, and a higher proportion of time spent on-screen during Test vs. Training conditions. Interactions with distractors were too infrequent for analyses. Correlations showed VKC Training was associated with episodic memory abilities whereas VKC Test scores were associated with executive function. VKC scores did not differ between participants with versus without concussion.

Conclusions:

The VKC is a promising portable performance-based measure of subtle functional difficulties for young, high-functioning participants. The VKC automated scoring makes it highly efficient for large studies and clinical settings.

Keywords

College athletesexecutive functionepisodic memorycognitiontask performance and analysisgoals

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , First View , pp. 1 - 7
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Neuropsychological Society

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