Mobile Game Attempts To Diagnose Alzheimer's

the_newsbeagle writes "Currently, the best way to check if a person has a high likelihood of developing Alzheimer's is to perform a PET scan to measure the amount of amyloid plaque in his or her brain. That's an expensive procedure. But a startup called Akili Interactive says it has developed a mobile game that can identify likely Alzheimer's patients just by their gameplay and game results. The game is based on a neuroscience study which showed that multitasking is one of the first brain functions to take a hit in Alzheimer's patients. Therefore the game requires players to perform two tasks at the same time."

not really far fetched at all

[Anonymous Coward]

the tests for concussions and MTBI seem a lot like hand/eye games.
like 30 minutes of maddening little games.

troops do them now before and after deployments.

Re:

[Defenestrar]

It will be interesting to see how this "diagnostic game" field develops with the aging of generations familiar with electronic game platforms. Calibration of the test to the subject could become far more critical when we have a greater prevalence of sexagenarian gamers. It'll be similar to the problems one might encounter giving a cognitive vocabulary test to equivalently aged persons - one of which is an English professor. Without some intelligent means of accounting for differing patient baselines in g

Re:

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

A simple matter.

You simply affix an xbox headset to the subject. If they look vaguely confused, you use the general population baselines. If they start reflexively screaming obscenities and accusing the diagnostic team of cheating, you use the gamer baselines.

Re:

[Joe_Dragon]

I hope you like having the ER be your primary care doctor and for the stuff they don't cover the jail / prison will Under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, correctional facilities must provide medical care to inmates.

Multitasking

[Dancindan84]

My wife says I fail this test on a regular basis.

Achievement Unlocked: Dementia!

[Anonymous Coward]

Gary has sent you five lives. Who the fuck is Gary?

Oblig.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I may have alzheimers but at least I don't have alzheimers.

Simple Test...

[RdeCourtney]

So the actual test is installing the game and playing it. If you install it and then forget to open it, because you forgot what you were doing, then you have Alzheimers. Simple.

Re:

[byornski]

Most depressing thing I have ever seen:

This app is incompatible with all of your devices. This item cannot be installed in your device's country.

I'm now more depressed than ever :(

There is a paper based 10 minute test

[WillAffleckUW]

that works just as well.

Your major risk factors continue to be (in order): being female, being old, having Apolipoprotein E alleles of a certain type, cardiovascular risk factors.

You can't do anything about the first three, and by the time most people pay attention, it's far too late, so I'd focus on the last part, quite frankly.

(this is not saying we're not looking into biomarkers, or other things, but a shorthand about your actual risk as a person, if you're not in a family with high Early Onset AD risk)

I

But...

[hedgemage]

I can't remember where I left my mobile device.

Re:

[HybridST]

Sounds like your mobile device is a mobile-device.

Does anyone multitask?

[Kittenman]

Don't we call do one thing at a time, then flip back and forth between that top-of-stack task and the others in the list? Example: I'm tap-tap-tapping here but two feet to the left is a program I've been working on, still in my memory. But I can't program that and type this at the same time.

Or maybe I already have alzheimers....

Obligatory: Use case

[Anonymous Coward]

Old Guy: Stella! Where in the hell is my phone? Stella! Damnit!

Joe six pack: Old guy, Stella's been dead for 20 years.. you don't need no phone.. I'll drive you to the neurologist...

Old Guy: If Stella's dead, who in the hell has my phone with all the dirty pictures in it?

Joe six pack: Dad, thats my phone!

What was this about?

[jt-socal]

Please say that again.