Key Points:
- Researchers have created a virtual reality game that can be used to detect ADHD.
- The assessment is based on the differences in eye movement detected between those with ADHD and those without during a successful test.
- The game has other applications, particularly in assessing a wide range of difficulties with everyday challenges.
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 precise diagnosis of attention deficits. The approach could also be used as the basis for an ADHD therapy—and with some modifications—to assess other conditions, such as autism.
The game, called EPELI, was designed by researchers from Aalto University, the University of Helsinki, and Åbo Akademi University. It simulating situations from everyday life to better assess ADHD symptoms in children compared with today’s standard questionnaires, interviews and observation.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, involved 37 children diagnosed with ADHD and 36 children in a control group. The children played EPELI and a second game, Shoot the Target, in which the player is instructed to locate objects in the environment and “shoot” them by looking at them. Throughout the games, the researchers tracked the eye movements of all the children.
According to the study, the ADHD children's gaze paused longer on different objects in the environment, and their gaze jumped faster and more often from one spot to another.
“This might indicate a delay in visual system development and poorer information processing than other children,” said Liya Merzon, a doctoral researcher at Aalto University.
The researchers are interested in broader therapeutic applications for virtual reality games. Beyond assessing symptoms, gaming could also be used as an aid to ADHD rehabilitation they say.
“We want to develop a gamification-based digital therapy that can help children with ADHD get excited about doing things they wouldn’t otherwise do. There’s already an approved game for ADHD rehabilitation in the U.S.,” said lead author Juha Salmitaival, an Academy Research Fellow at Aalto.
Salmitaival and collaborators are exploring rehabilitation possibilities in a project with researchers at the University of Oulu.
The team has also identified other potential applications for EPELI, including its ability to help measure problems in the planning and flexibility of activities in people with autism. With modifications, it could also be used to assess language problems, brain trauma, adult ADHD, symptoms related to cerebral palsy and even the deterioration of memory with age.
Information provided by Aalto University.