Noninvasive transcranial Doppler ultrasound computerized mental performance testing system
First Claim
1. A noninvasive method to determine the mental performance capacity of a human subject to perform a given task, including steps of:
- (a) obtaining a subject'"'"'s baseline cerebral blood flow velocity in cerebral arteries on both sides of the brain using a transcranial Doppler ultrasound instrument with two probes placed on the temples and sample volumes focused on cerebral vessels on both sides;
(b) simultaneously with (a) obtaining the mean blood flow velocity and calculating laterality index;
(c) testing the subject with tasks of mental performance presented on the screen of a digital computer and using a computer input peripheral device while simultaneously monitoring the mean blood flow velocity during each stage of the task in real-time;
(d) determining mental performance status using the laterality index calculated from mean cerebral blood flow velocity;
(e) simultaneously with (d) assessing the task proficiency of the subject;
(f) simultaneously with (e) determining the neurocognitive strategy of the subject during performance of the task;
(g) simultaneously with (f) determining the change in neurocognitive strategy from prior measurements;
(h) simultaneously with (g) determining if there is a corresponding rise in error rates during task performance; and
(i) simultaneously with (h) assessing if the critical limit of neurocognitive workload has been reached.
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Abstract
A non-invasive method and system to determine the mental performance capacity of a human subject to perform a given task, said method with high temporal resolution, user-friendly and portable, including steps of obtaining a subject'"'"'s baseline cerebral blood flow velocity in cerebral arteries using a transcranial Doppler ultrasound instrument with sample volumes focused on cerebral vessels on both sides using two probes placed on the temples and calculating laterality index for both arteries. Simultaneously, testing the subject with tasks of mental performance presented on the screen of a digital computer and using a computer input peripheral device while simultaneously monitoring the mean blood flow velocity during each stage of the task in real-time. Processing the acquired data using a microprocessor and communicating the determined mental performance indices via a cellular telephone circuit to a remote computer or mission control.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A noninvasive method to determine the mental performance capacity of a human subject to perform a given task, including steps of:
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(a) obtaining a subject'"'"'s baseline cerebral blood flow velocity in cerebral arteries on both sides of the brain using a transcranial Doppler ultrasound instrument with two probes placed on the temples and sample volumes focused on cerebral vessels on both sides;
(b) simultaneously with (a) obtaining the mean blood flow velocity and calculating laterality index;
(c) testing the subject with tasks of mental performance presented on the screen of a digital computer and using a computer input peripheral device while simultaneously monitoring the mean blood flow velocity during each stage of the task in real-time;
(d) determining mental performance status using the laterality index calculated from mean cerebral blood flow velocity;
(e) simultaneously with (d) assessing the task proficiency of the subject;
(f) simultaneously with (e) determining the neurocognitive strategy of the subject during performance of the task;
(g) simultaneously with (f) determining the change in neurocognitive strategy from prior measurements;
(h) simultaneously with (g) determining if there is a corresponding rise in error rates during task performance; and
(i) simultaneously with (h) assessing if the critical limit of neurocognitive workload has been reached. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A noninvasive method to determine the mental performance capacity of a human subject to perform a given task, including steps of:
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(a) obtaining a subject'"'"'s baseline cerebral blood flow velocity in cerebral arteries on both sides of the brain using a transcranial Doppler ultrasound instrument with two probes placed on the temples and sample volumes focused on cerebral vessels on both sides;
(b) simultaneously with (a) obtaining the mean blood flow velocity in both cerebral arteries;
(c) testing the subject with tasks of mental performance presented on the screen of a digital computer and using a computer input peripheral device while simultaneously monitoring the mean blood flow velocity during each stage of the task in real-time;
(d) determining mental performance status by comparing the mean cerebral blood flow velocity obtained during the task to baseline mean blood flow velocity;
(e) simultaneously with (d) assessing the task proficiency of the subject;
(f) simultaneously with (e) determining the neurocognitive strategy of the subject during performance of the task;
(g) simultaneously with (f) determining the change in neurocognitive strategy from prior measurements;
(h) simultaneously with (g) determining if there is a corresponding rise in error rates during task performance;
(i) simultaneously with (h) assessing if the critical limit of neurocognitive workload has been reached; and
(j) simultaneously with (i) processing the neurocognitive workload data with a program stored in the system microprocessor. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method to determine the mental performance capacity of a human subject to perform a given task, including steps of:
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(a) obtaining a subject'"'"'s baseline cerebral blood flow velocity in cerebral arteries using a transcranial Doppler ultrasound instrument with sample volumes focused on cerebral vessels on both sides using two probes placed on the temples;
(b) simultaneously with (a) obtaining the mean blood flow velocity and calculating laterality index;
(c) testing the subject with tasks of mental performance presented on the screen of a digital computer and using computer input peripheral device selected from the group of a pressure key, a mouse, a keyboard, joystick or objects of virtual environment while simultaneously monitoring the mean blood flow velocity during each stage of the task in real-time;
(d) determining mental performance status using the laterality index calculated from mean cerebral blood flow velocity;
(e) simultaneously with (d) assessing the task proficiency of the subject;
(f) simultaneously with (e) determining the neurocognitive strategy of the subject during performance of the task;
(g) simultaneously with (f) determining the change in neurocognitive strategy from prior measurements;
(h) simultaneously with (g) determining if there is a corresponding rise in error rates during task performance;
(i) simultaneously with (h) assessing if the critical limit of neurocognitive workload has been reached;
(j) simultaneously with (i) processing the neurocognitive workload data with a program stored in the system microprocessor; and
(k) communicating the derived neurocognitive workload to another computer. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification