Possibility of cyber technologies’ application in psychological support of elderly people: a review of researches

This article analyzes the modern foreign studies on development in the application of various types of cyber technologies used for a wide range of tasks of psychological support for old people. It shows that the majority of foreign authors attribute virtual reality system as the most promising cybertechnology, allowing elder computer users to successfully integrate the existing and acquire new experience through opportunities of controlled changes in sensory, perceptual, cognitive and affective processes. The article considers the spheres of psychological accompaniment of elderly people in which the introduction of computer technologies provides such benefits as prophylaxis and therapy of senile asthenia, cognitive dysfunction, emotional disorders. It reveals, that the question of the effectiveness of cybertechnologies in gerontic psychology’s practice remains open today because of a small number of pilot studies. However, the results are already available.

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