A recent study from researchers at England’s University of Cambridge has found that VR can identify symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease more accurately than ‘gold standard’ cognitive testing.
In 2014, researchers discovered what is known as our brain’s “internal satnav” (the entorhinal cortex), one of the first regions to be damaged by Alzheimer’s – which may explain why getting lost is such a common symptom in older people with the condition.
The problem? Traditional cognitive tests used in most medical clinics for Alzheimer’s diagnoses aren’t able to test for navigational problems – so these researchers decided to build their own.
For the study, 45 patients with “mild cognitive impairment” and 41 “healthy” patients wore VR headsets and undertook a navigation test in a simulated environment (which requires a high functioning entorhinal cortex).
12 of the 45 cognitively-impaired participants had also tested positively for “underlying Alzheimer’s” and were at high risk of dementia – and, interestingly, all of these patients performed significantly worse in the navigation test than those with “healthy” brains.
The researchers say they believe the new VR technology could play a crucial role in diagnosing and monitoring Alzheimer’s in the future, and also assist with clinical trials of medications aimed at slowing down the disease’s progression.
With more than 500,000 older Australians currently living with dementia, this kind of new technology is positive news – we hope their fantastic work continues!
