Virtual reality game AD for objective perception
Researchers have used virtual reality games, eye tracking and machine learning to show that differences in eye movements can be used to detect ADHD, potentially providing a tool for more accurate diagnosis of attention deficits. Their approach could also be used as a basis for ADHD treatment and, with some modifications, to evaluate other disorders such as autism.
ADHD is a common attention deficit disorder that affects about six percent of children worldwide. Despite decades of searching for objective markers, ADHD diagnosis is still based on questionnaires, interviews and subjective observation. The results can be ambiguous, and conventional behavioral tests do not reveal how children manage everyday situations. Recently, a group consisting of researchers from Aalto University, University of Helsinki and Åbo Akademi developed a virtual reality game called EPELI which can be used to assess children’s ADHD symptoms by simulating everyday situations.
Now the team tracked the children’s eye movements in a virtual reality game and used machine learning to look for differences in ADHD children. The new study involved 37 children diagnosed with ADHD and 36 children in a control group. The children played EPELI and another game called Shoot the Target, where the player is guided to locate objects in the environment and “shoot” them by looking at them. This short video shows an example of playing EPELI, player responses and research results.
– We monitored the natural eye movements of children while they performed different tasks in a virtual reality game, and this proved to be an effective way to detect ADHD symptoms. ADHD children’s gaze stopped longer on different objects in the environment, and their gaze jumped faster and more often from one place to another. This may indicate a delay in the development of the visual system and worse information processing than other children, says doctoral researcher Liya Merzon from Aalto University.
Brushing teeth with distractions
Project manager Juha Salmitaival, an Aalto academy researcher, says that part of the game’s strength is its motivational value. “This is not only a new technique for objectively assessing ADHD symptoms. Children also find the game more interesting than standard neuropsychological tests,” he says.
Salmitaival received the EPELI together with Åbo Akademi professor Matti Laine and Erik Seesjärvi, doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki and clinical neuropsychologist at Helsinki University Hospital. The game is available to neuropsychologists working in child neurology and child psychiatry at HYH.
– Those interested can use EPELI as an aid to their clinical work, says Seesjärvi. – The experience has been very positive. All neuropsychologists who responded to the feedback survey after the first pilot said they benefited from using virtual reality methods as a complementary tool in their work.
EPELI game development was led by Topi Siro, an Aalto alum who currently works at Peili Vision Oy. “The game offers a list of tasks simulating everyday life, such as brushing teeth and eating a banana. The player has to remember the tasks despite environmental distractions, such as when the TV is on. The game measures everything: how much the child clicks on the controls and how efficiently he completes the tasks. Efficiency correlates with everyday activities , while ADHD children often have challenges,” says Siro.
Motivation for rehabilitation
Researchers are planning wider therapeutic applications for virtual reality games. In addition to evaluating symptoms, gaming could also be used as an aid to ADHD rehabilitation. “We want to develop a digital therapy based on gamification that can help ADHD children get excited about things they wouldn’t otherwise do. There is already an approved game for ADHD rehabilitation in the United States,” says Salmitaival. The group is investigating rehabilitation possibilities in a project with researchers from the University of Oulu.
Aalto University lecturer Linda Henriksson, who was also involved in the study, notes the exceptional potential of virtual reality in such applications. “I see virtual reality as an interesting tool, because it can be used to precisely control the events of the stimulus world and at the same time collect information about behavior in a natural situation,” says Henriksson, an expert who studies the brain’s visual processing. information.
Researchers have already identified other potential EPELI applications when assessing a wide range of difficulties related to everyday challenges. It could be used, for example, to measure problems in the planning and flexibility of autistic activities. With modifications, this approach could also be used to assess language problems, brain injuries, adult ADHD, stroke-related symptoms, and even memory loss with age. “Our collaborations in Geneva research diseases related to aging. Key opportunities on the horizon are the early detection of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, says Salmitaival.
The study used MAGICS infrastructure, a project led by Aalto specializing in virtual technologies. The research was funded by the Academy of Finland, Aalto Brain Center and several foundations. The magazine was published in Scientific reports.
Journal
Scientific reports
Title of the article
Eye movement behavior in a real virtual reality task reveals ADHD in children
Article publication date
24/11/2022
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