Eye tracking in visual perception analysis for Alzheimer's disease patients

Using static and dynamic tracking tasks, researchers from the National University of Colombia analyzed the eye movement and event narration of seven patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), plus a control group.

Background 

One of the aspects affected by Alzheimer's disease is language. These difficulties and their manifestations influence how AD patients perceive and understand the world around them.

Method

A Tobii Eye Tracker was used to record eye movement information at a frequency of 300Hz. The stimuli were presented on a 23-inch LCD screen with 1920x1080 resolution. 

Results 

In this regard, the results of the research show that, in tasks with still images, people with Alzheimer's disease identify fewer elements, having few fixation points and inefficient scanning strategies. As for the videos, the visual tracking was similar between both groups, although the linguistic expression of the events is altered in the group with AD, who despite being able to observe what happens, are not able to remember or express the situations after performing the task. 

Publications

You can read the complete academic article. (In Spanish)