For 15 minutes on a recent Friday afternoon, Carmichael resident Bonnie Dale sat at a small table wearing a virtual reality headset and holding a remote control in her right hand.
Across from her, UC Davis medical student Sukhdeep Dhillon instructed Dale, 79, to complete tasks using the remote control as a pointer, testing her ability to see colors and shapes.
Right after, Dale took a roughly 15-minute cognitive assessment that asked her, among other things, to identify an animal, set a clock to a certain time, do some mental math and remember five words…