Virtual solution to dementia tests
by Vincent Ciccarello
Virtual
reality is still often relegated to the realm of science fiction and
Hollywood movies but a UniSA researcher is putting the technology to
good use in the here and now.
Following on from her PhD research program, which studied the use of virtual reality to alleviate pain in children undergoing medical procedures in the emergency department, Belinda Lange wants to determine whether virtual reality is a better detection method than traditional tests for adult onset dementia. And a prestigious and highly competitive international fellowship from the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation will enable her to begin her research next month.
Currently, the cognitive assessment of older adults with mild Dementia of Alzheimer’s Type (DAT) involves two-dimensional pen and paper tests. It is hoped the virtual reality 3-D visuospatial tests and Morris Water Maze task are more sensitive to the cognitive indicators of the early stages of DAT.
Lange will spend the next 12 months in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California working with Dr Albert "Skip" Rizzo using virtual reality technologies developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies.
"We’ll use two applications," Lange said from Canada, where she was invited to present a workshop on her virtual reality research. "One involves an input device used to interact with a software program on a computer screen. The other involves the use of a headset that the test patients wear in order to find their way through a maze."
She predicts the virtual reality test will be easier to do – especially for women.
"Often females are worse at the 3-D test than males, as they find it difficult to ‘rotate’ images in their brain. We believe it will be easier for women to use and perform the test, and that it will be a more sensitive test," she said. "And we think it could be less time consuming than doing the traditional pen and paper test."
Lange said virtual reality may also be useful as a rehabilitation tool for dementia, as it is currently being trialled with stroke victims, children with ADHD and soldiers returned from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder.