Research

Seed Grant Profile

99

2009-2010 Program

ClockReader - Investigating Automated Recording and Analysis of Clock Drawing Test for Detecting Cognitive Impairment

Early detection of symptoms is of critical importance in diagnosing and treating cognitive dysfunction. One important instrument utilized for detecting early signs of cognitive dysfunction is the Clock-Drawing Test. In this test, patients are asked to draw a clock face at a certain time, and are evaluated on how well they perform this task. At present, analysts must individually administer and assess each test a person completes. Automating the process would grant many advantages: the patients could complete the clock test more often to measure improvement, stabilization or variation over time; the patients would receive immediate feedback on their results; the evaluation structure would become more standardized for broader assessment; and multiple evaluation tools could be utilized simultaneously. Toward these ends, the ClockReader project will seek to automate the administration and evaluation of Clock-Drawing Tests on tablet PCs. The ClockReader project will then be tested on both past Clock-Drawing Tests and new tests performed by new participants.

Investigators: Ellen Yi-Luen Do (GT, College of Architecture and College of Computing), Allan Levey (Emory Center for Neurodegenerative Disease and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Emory University), David Joyner (GT, Human Centered Computing, School of Interactive Computing)