Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task

Conventional neuropsychological tests do not represent the complex and dynamic situations encountered in daily life. Immersive virtual reality simulations can be used to simulate dynamic and interactive situations in a controlled setting. Adding eye tracking to such simulations may provide highly de...

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Main Authors: Veerle H.E.W. Brouwer, Sjoerd Stuit, Alex Hoogerbrugge, Antonia F. Ten Brink, Isabel K. Gosselt, Stefan Van der Stigchel, Tanja C.W. Nijboer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-04-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022004959
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author Veerle H.E.W. Brouwer
Sjoerd Stuit
Alex Hoogerbrugge
Antonia F. Ten Brink
Isabel K. Gosselt
Stefan Van der Stigchel
Tanja C.W. Nijboer
author_facet Veerle H.E.W. Brouwer
Sjoerd Stuit
Alex Hoogerbrugge
Antonia F. Ten Brink
Isabel K. Gosselt
Stefan Van der Stigchel
Tanja C.W. Nijboer
author_sort Veerle H.E.W. Brouwer
collection DOAJ
description Conventional neuropsychological tests do not represent the complex and dynamic situations encountered in daily life. Immersive virtual reality simulations can be used to simulate dynamic and interactive situations in a controlled setting. Adding eye tracking to such simulations may provide highly detailed outcome measures, and has great potential for neuropsychological assessment. Here, participants (83 stroke patients and 103 healthy controls) we instructed to find either 3 or 7 items from a shopping list in a virtual super market environment while eye movements were being recorded. Using Logistic Regression and Support Vector Machine models, we aimed to predict the task of the participant and whether they belonged to the stroke or the control group. With a limited number of eye movement features, our models achieved an average Area Under the Curve (AUC) of .76 in predicting whether each participant was assigned a short or long shopping list (3 or 7 items). Identifying participant as either stroke patients and controls led to an AUC of .64. In both classification tasks, the frequency with which aisles were revisited was the most dissociating feature. As such, eye movement data obtained from a virtual reality simulation contain a rich set of signatures for detecting cognitive deficits, opening the door to potential clinical applications.
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spelling doaj.art-66e8378ae07447c8bcf5eec3e1493c322022-12-22T02:10:50ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402022-04-0184e09207Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality taskVeerle H.E.W. Brouwer0Sjoerd Stuit1Alex Hoogerbrugge2Antonia F. Ten Brink3Isabel K. Gosselt4Stefan Van der Stigchel5Tanja C.W. Nijboer6Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, NetherlandsCenter of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, De Hoogstraat Rehabilitation, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, Netherlands; Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, De Hoogstraat Rehabilitation, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, Netherlands; Department of Rehabilitation, Physical Therapy Science & Sports, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, Netherlands; Corresponding author.Conventional neuropsychological tests do not represent the complex and dynamic situations encountered in daily life. Immersive virtual reality simulations can be used to simulate dynamic and interactive situations in a controlled setting. Adding eye tracking to such simulations may provide highly detailed outcome measures, and has great potential for neuropsychological assessment. Here, participants (83 stroke patients and 103 healthy controls) we instructed to find either 3 or 7 items from a shopping list in a virtual super market environment while eye movements were being recorded. Using Logistic Regression and Support Vector Machine models, we aimed to predict the task of the participant and whether they belonged to the stroke or the control group. With a limited number of eye movement features, our models achieved an average Area Under the Curve (AUC) of .76 in predicting whether each participant was assigned a short or long shopping list (3 or 7 items). Identifying participant as either stroke patients and controls led to an AUC of .64. In both classification tasks, the frequency with which aisles were revisited was the most dissociating feature. As such, eye movement data obtained from a virtual reality simulation contain a rich set of signatures for detecting cognitive deficits, opening the door to potential clinical applications.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022004959StrokeCognitive assessmentVirtual realityEye trackingMachine learning
spellingShingle Veerle H.E.W. Brouwer
Sjoerd Stuit
Alex Hoogerbrugge
Antonia F. Ten Brink
Isabel K. Gosselt
Stefan Van der Stigchel
Tanja C.W. Nijboer
Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task
Heliyon
Stroke
Cognitive assessment
Virtual reality
Eye tracking
Machine learning
title Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task
title_full Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task
title_fullStr Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task
title_full_unstemmed Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task
title_short Applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task
title_sort applying machine learning to dissociate between stroke patients and healthy controls using eye movement features obtained from a virtual reality task
topic Stroke
Cognitive assessment
Virtual reality
Eye tracking
Machine learning
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022004959
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