Game-Changing Digital Toolbox May Help Diagnose Dementia Earlier
upstart writes:
Game-Changing Digital Toolbox May Help Diagnose Dementia Earlier:
[...] In a new study from Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH), participants were tested using a digital pen that recorded the entire process of completing the cognitive test and allowed the researchers to pick up subtle measures of cognitive function beyond what is captured in traditional scoring.
Rather than just being able to say that someone performed poorly on a cognitive test, these digital metrics allow us to delve further into the specific cognitive and physical functions that may be underlying poor test performance for a specific individual," said corresponding author Mandy (Mengtian) Du, PhD, a former graduate student at BUSPH.
[...] According to the researchers, the digital pen data also allowed them to quantify the number of segments or straight lines that the participant used to complete the connections between the dots. They then looked at how these novel digital metrics were associated with other tests of cognitive and physical function. They found that the digital metrics were associated with specific cognitive functions such as processing speed, auditory attention, learning and working memory and physical functions such as walking speed and grip strength.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.