Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder. Though it is not yet curable or reversible, research has shown that clinical intervention or intensive cognitive training at an early stage may effectively delay the progress of the disease. As a result, screening populations with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early AD via efficient, effective and low-cost cognitive assessments is important. Currently, a cognitive assessment relies mostly on cognitive tests, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which must be performed by therapists. Also, cognitive functions can be divided into a variety of dimensions, such as memory, attention, executive function, visual spatial and so on. Executive functions (EF), also known as executive control or cognitive control, refer to a set of skills necessary to perform higher-order cognitive processes, including working memory, planning, attention, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control. Along with the fast progress of virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), this study proposes an intelligent assessment method aimed at assessing executive functions. Utilizing machine learning to develop an automatic evidence-based assessment model, behavioral information is acquired through performing executive-function tasks in a VR supermarket. Clinical trials were performed individuals with MCI or early AD and six healthy participants. Statistical analysis showed that 45 out of 46 indices derived from behavioral information were found to differ significantly between individuals with neurocognitive disorder and healthy participants. This analysis indicates these indices may be potential bio-markers. Further, machine-learning methods were applied to build classifiers that differentiate between individuals with MCI or early AD and healthy participants. The accuracy of the classifier is up to 100%, demonstrating the derived features from the VR system were highly related to diagnosis of individuals with MCI or early AD.
Highlights
D EMENTIA is a syndrome that there is degradation in thinking, memory, behaviour, and the ability to perform activities of daily living
Clinical trials were successfully performed with a total of 12 participants, demonstrating the proposed virtual reality (VR) system with head-mounted display (HMD) was reliable and feasible in clinic use
Compared with previous studies [21]–[29] that utilized normal display, projector or tablet, the use of HMD in our study revealed no additional burdens in conducting the clinical trials
Summary
D EMENTIA is a syndrome that there is degradation in thinking, memory, behaviour, and the ability to perform activities of daily living. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) accounts for 50%–70% of all types of dementia. According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, more than 50 million people worldwide were estimated to have dementia in 2019, and the number is expected to grow to 152 million by 2050. The socio-economic cost of the globally relevant disease is estimated to be as high as $818 billion, an increasingly challenging obstacle to global public health and sustainable social development. This number will continue to increase in the few years. The World Health Organization expects global individuals with AD in 2040 will exceed 80 million
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