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An eye-tracking controlled neuropsychological battery for cognitive assessment in neurological diseases

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Abstract

Traditional cognitive assessment in neurological conditions involving physical disability is often prevented by the presence of verbal–motor impairment; to date, an extensive motor–verbal-free neuropsychological battery is not available for such purposes. We adapted a set of neuropsychological tests, assessing language, attentional abilities, executive functions and social cognition, for eye-tracking (ET) control, and explored its feasibility in a sample of healthy participants. Thirty healthy subjects performed a neuropsychological assessment, using an ET-based neuropsychological battery, together with standard “paper and pencil” cognitive measures for frontal (Frontal Assessment Battery—FAB) and working memory abilities (Digit Sequencing Task) and for global cognitive efficiency (Montreal Cognitive Assessment—MoCA). Psychological measures of anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y—STAI-Y) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory—BDI) were also collected, and a usability questionnaire was administered. Significant correlations were observed between the “paper and pencil” screening of working memory abilities and the ET-based neuropsychological measures. The ET-based battery also correlated with the MoCA, while poor correlations were observed with the FAB. Usability aspects were found to be influenced by both working memory abilities and psychological components. The ET-based neuropsychological battery developed could provide an extensive assessment of cognitive functions, allowing participants to perform tasks independently from the integrity of motor or verbal channels. Further studies will be aimed at investigating validity and usability components in neurological populations with motor–verbal impairments.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to persons who voluntarily participated at the research, by completing the designed protocol. The presented work was partly funded by the “eBrain: BCI and ET for ALS” Lombardy Region project.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy

      Barbara Poletti, Laura Carelli, Federica Solca, Annalisa Lafronza, Nicola Ticozzi, Andrea Ciammola, Claudia Morelli & Vincenzo Silani

    2. Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy

      Elisa Pedroli, Pietro Cipresso & Giuseppe Riva

    3. Department of Cardiovascular, Neural and Metabolic Sciences, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy

      Andrea Faini

    4. Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, IRCCS Fondazione Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy

      Stefano Zago

    5. Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, “Dino Ferrari” Center, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

      Nicola Ticozzi & Vincenzo Silani

    6. ICT and Biomedical Technology Integration Unit, Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer (CITT), Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus, Milan, Italy

      Paolo Meriggi

    7. Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

      Dorothée Lulé & Albert C. Ludolph

    8. Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

      Giuseppe Riva

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    1. Barbara Poletti
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    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Barbara Poletti.

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    Funding

    This study was partly funded by the “eBrain: BCI and ET for ALS” Lombardy Region project (Grant Number: 16971/SAL52).

    Conflict of interest

    The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

    Ethical approval

    All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

    Informed consent

    Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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    B. Poletti and L. Carelli contributed equally to this work.

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    Poletti, B., Carelli, L., Solca, F. et al. An eye-tracking controlled neuropsychological battery for cognitive assessment in neurological diseases. Neurol Sci 38, 595–603 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-016-2807-3

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