SPA UK Sandesh 2016 | Page 67

“ Previous research has shown that people with Alzheimer’ s disease struggle with the more demanding tasks”
“ We need a large number of participants for us to be able to make conclusions”

“ Previous research has shown that people with Alzheimer’ s disease struggle with the more demanding tasks”

“ We need a large number of participants for us to be able to make conclusions”

The development of a new eye test for the early diagnosis of cognitive impairment and dementia in ethnic minority groups
Alzheimer’ s Disease is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that affects all cultures and countries. However, there are few reliable diagnostic tools that are affordable for the majority of people in developing countries. A collaborative research project between Dr Trevor Crawford and his team from Lancaster University and a number of NHS organisations( including Dr Yashwant P Shukla from Devitre House Memory clinic in Lancaster) are conducting a cross-cultural study to evaluate a new eye test that may provide an early marker of cognitive( i. e. memory) impairment in ethnic minority populations. Recently, Dr Crawford and Alex Devereux, from Lancaster University assessed a number of volunteers from the Hindu community as part of a wider research programme. We hope to collect data for a research project looking into how Alzheimer’ s disease affects cognitive ability and eye movement behaviour in comparison with the normal aging process. We use an eyetracker alongside experimental tasks presented on a computer screen to examine variables such as reaction time and ability to correctly complete tasks. Previous research has shown that people with Alzheimer’ s disease struggle with the more demanding tasks. Also we use an experiment that is designed to assess eye movements whilst people are watching videos, in order to attempt to move towards a more naturalistic setting.
The research programme requires healthy adults as well as people who have been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’ s disease. We compare the eye movements of people with memory deficits to those of healthy adults. For scientific data collection, we need a large number of participants for us to be able to make conclusions. The tests take approximately one hour, but it may be possible to conduct the test in 2 shorter sessions. Dr Thomas Wilcockson has been collecting data from patients visiting a variety of NHS Memory Clinics, including Bolton and Stoke. We are always looking to visit new sites and gain more participants for the research. The study is now on the NIHR research portfolio( http:// news. joindementiaresearch. nihr. ac. uk / can-dementia-diagnosed-eye-movement /).
This research is funded by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council( EPSRC) and Sir John Fisher Foundation.
To enquire further about the research or if you are interested in taking part then you can email Champa Mistry( eyetracking. champa @ gmail. com, m: 0741 757 1317) or Alex Devereaux( a. devereaux @ lancaster. ac. uk). vol. 41 | Prajapati Sandesh 2016 65