Behavioural Biomarker

A VR navigation task to measure cognitive decline in participants affected by preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.

A dynamic pathway, with windows that oversees the landscape outside. Picture is overlayed with purple.

Background

A team of researchers from UBC School of Biomedical Engineering is conducting research on cognitive degradation in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Due to Alzheimer’s and other dementias, brain regions encoding our sense of place are highly affected during neurodegenerative decline. A virtual reality (VR) apparatus will offer a unique opportunity to test and develop a sensitive behavioral biomarker for cognitive impairments in affected individuals.

Objective

While memory-based tasks are used to measure cognitive performance, navigational abilities are seldom utilized. Researchers’ current VR tool allows participants to navigate generated pathways and track their start location as well as selected distal landmarks. At the end of each trial, error metrics in participants’ localization will be collected to identify where performance becomes unreliable. The project aims to optimize the usability and accessibility of the current VR solution by enhancing visual and audio elements of the VR navigation task, as well as improving the user experience for general users, especially the older-adult population.


Details

Project status: Active
Type of project: Teaching/Learning
Timeline: September 2023 – Present

The Team

Principal Investigators

  • Dr. Manu Madhav, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
  • Dr. Thalia Field, Associate Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine

Subject Matter Expert

  • Isaac Morgan, Lab Manager, NC4

Student Team

  • Mariane Olivan, Project Lead, UX/UI Designer (September 2023 – Present)
  • Eric Leung, Developer (September 2023 – Present)