Performance on a virtual environment shopping task and adaptive functioning among older adults

Neuropsychologists are often asked to evaluate patients’ functional capacities, yet traditional neuropsychological tests have limited correspondence with real-world outcomes. The Virtual Environment Grocery Store (VEGS) is a virtual environment that simulates shopping tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between older adults’ performance on the VEGS in relation to their self-reported adaptive functioning as well as performance on a performance-based adaptive functioning measure. Older adults (n = 98; age 65–90, M = 75.82, SD = 6.27) were administered the VEGS, the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADLS), and the Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS). Neither premorbid functioning nor the VEGS variables were associated with self-rated adaptive functioning. However, all three VEGS variables were associated with performance-based adaptive functioning (i.e., the TFLS). Performance on the VEGS measure of correct items in the shopping cart explained 13.9% of the variance in performance on the performance-based adaptive functioning task. Whether the participant picked up the VEGS prescription explained 12.6% of the variance in performance on the performance-based adaptive functioning task. Performance on VEGS long delay free recall explained 35.1% of the variance in performance on the performance-based adaptive functioning task. These results suggest that the VEGS demonstrates value in predicting older adults’ functional capacities.