The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review
Extensive research has demonstrated that eye-tracking tasks can effectively indicate cognitive impairment. For example, lab-based eye-tracking tasks, such as the antisaccade task, have robustly distinguished between people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and healthy older adults. Due to the neurodegen...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/11/1503 |
| _version_ | 1797511024504471552 |
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| author | Megan Rose Readman Megan Polden Melissa Chloe Gibbs Lettie Wareing Trevor J. Crawford |
| author_facet | Megan Rose Readman Megan Polden Melissa Chloe Gibbs Lettie Wareing Trevor J. Crawford |
| author_sort | Megan Rose Readman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Extensive research has demonstrated that eye-tracking tasks can effectively indicate cognitive impairment. For example, lab-based eye-tracking tasks, such as the antisaccade task, have robustly distinguished between people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and healthy older adults. Due to the neurodegeneration associated with AD, people with AD often display extended saccade latencies and increased error rates on eye-tracking tasks. Although the effectiveness of using eye tracking to identify cognitive impairment appears promising, research considering the utility of eye tracking during naturalistic tasks, such as reading, in identifying cognitive impairment is limited. The current review identified 39 articles assessing eye-tracking distinctions between people with AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy controls when completing naturalistic task (reading, real-life simulations, static image search) or a goal-directed task involving naturalistic stimuli. The results revealed that naturalistic tasks show promising biomarkers and distinctions between healthy older adults and AD participants, and therefore show potential to be used for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. However, only twelve articles included MCI participants and assessed the sensitivity of measures to detect cognitive impairment in preclinical stages. In addition, the review revealed inconsistencies within the literature, particularly when assessing reading tasks. We urge researchers to expand on the current literature in this area and strive to assess the robustness and sensitivity of eye-tracking measures in both AD and MCI populations on naturalistic tasks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:39:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-add28735b12a43acb97e95c4533aa953 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:39:34Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-add28735b12a43acb97e95c4533aa9532023-11-22T22:38:38ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252021-11-011111150310.3390/brainsci11111503The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A ReviewMegan Rose Readman0Megan Polden1Melissa Chloe Gibbs2Lettie Wareing3Trevor J. Crawford4Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UKDepartment of Psychology, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UKDepartment of Psychology, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UKDepartment of Psychology, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UKDepartment of Psychology, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UKExtensive research has demonstrated that eye-tracking tasks can effectively indicate cognitive impairment. For example, lab-based eye-tracking tasks, such as the antisaccade task, have robustly distinguished between people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and healthy older adults. Due to the neurodegeneration associated with AD, people with AD often display extended saccade latencies and increased error rates on eye-tracking tasks. Although the effectiveness of using eye tracking to identify cognitive impairment appears promising, research considering the utility of eye tracking during naturalistic tasks, such as reading, in identifying cognitive impairment is limited. The current review identified 39 articles assessing eye-tracking distinctions between people with AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy controls when completing naturalistic task (reading, real-life simulations, static image search) or a goal-directed task involving naturalistic stimuli. The results revealed that naturalistic tasks show promising biomarkers and distinctions between healthy older adults and AD participants, and therefore show potential to be used for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. However, only twelve articles included MCI participants and assessed the sensitivity of measures to detect cognitive impairment in preclinical stages. In addition, the review revealed inconsistencies within the literature, particularly when assessing reading tasks. We urge researchers to expand on the current literature in this area and strive to assess the robustness and sensitivity of eye-tracking measures in both AD and MCI populations on naturalistic tasks.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/11/1503Alzheimer’s diseasemild cognitive impairmenteye trackingnaturalistic eye movement taskscognitive impairment |
| spellingShingle | Megan Rose Readman Megan Polden Melissa Chloe Gibbs Lettie Wareing Trevor J. Crawford The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review Brain Sciences Alzheimer’s disease mild cognitive impairment eye tracking naturalistic eye movement tasks cognitive impairment |
| title | The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review |
| title_full | The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review |
| title_fullStr | The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review |
| title_short | The Potential of Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review |
| title_sort | potential of naturalistic eye movement tasks in the diagnosis of alzheimer s disease a review |
| topic | Alzheimer’s disease mild cognitive impairment eye tracking naturalistic eye movement tasks cognitive impairment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/11/1503 |
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