Method and system for quantitative assessment of verbal memory

• US 8,882,510 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2009
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cognivue Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cerebral Assessment Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Duffy, Charles J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai, Xuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRANT, MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER
• Application Number:
  US12/561,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20110065074A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,882 Days
• Field of Search: 600/558, 434/236, 434/167, 434/227
• US Class Current: 434/236
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

A method is presented to address quantitative assessment of verbal memory of a subject, where the method comprises the steps of: (1) presenting at least one scene to the subject on a display, the scene comprising a plurality of symbols and a background; (2) moving the plurality of symbols relative to the scene, the movement being tracked by the subject via at least one input device; (3) adjusting the saliency of the plurality of symbols relative to the tracked movement; (4) receiving feedback from the subject via said input device; (5) quantitatively refining the received feedback; (6) modulating the movement of the plurality of symbols relative to the accuracy of the quantitatively refined feedback; (7) calculating a critical threshold parameter; and (8) recording a critical threshold parameter onto a tangible computer readable medium. An apparatus for quantitative assessment of verbal memory of a subject comprising a display device, an input device, a control device, and a tangible computer readable medium. In its simplest sense, a quantitative assessment profile of verbal memory by psychophysical responses is generated on a tangible computer readable medium.

Claims

1. A method for assessing the onset or progression of impairment in the nervous system functioning of a subject associated with a possible nervous system disorder, injury, derangement, or toxicity, said impairment associated with brain functioning in a desired stimulus domain and relating to various different physical areas of a subject'"'"'s brain, the method comprising the steps of:

performing a verbal memory test on a computer screen using a user interface for variably and selectably determining a lower signal-to-noise ratio and stimulus sequence durations at which a subject can accurately and consistently identify a target stimulus from at least one non-target stimulus, wherein said user interface comprises a set of specific patterns of visual form or motion, wherein said target stimulus is comprised of at least one set of one or more symbols and said non-target stimulus is comprised of at least one set of one or more symbols, said symbols comprised of letters and non-letters, said at least one set of one or more symbols of said non-target stimulus is not one of said at least one set of one or more symbols of said target stimulus, and further wherein said target stimulus aligns with a stimulus domain and a predetermined physical portion of the subject'"'"'s brain for which a test is desired and further wherein said target stimulus associates with a task design involving the subject'"'"'s ability to process said target stimulus corresponding to the operational performance of a predetermined physical area of the subject'"'"'s brain;

further wherein said variable and selectable verbal memory test manipulates a task difficulty associated with visual form or motion characteristics of said specific stimulus pattern, said variable and selectable verbal memory test further comprising the following steps executed on a computer processor;

presenting at least two stimuli simultaneously such that one of said at least two stimuli comprises a target stimulus satisfying a given target criterion for associating with a desired stimulus domain and physical portion of the subject'"'"'s brain and the other one(s) of said at least two stimuli comprises at least one non-target stimulus not satisfying said given target criterion;

moving a position of said target stimulus and said non-target stimulus on said computer screen according to said specific pattern of visual form or motion while changing a signal-to-noise ratio of all of said at least two stimuli in response to responses from the subject;

monitoring the speed and accuracy of the subject'"'"'s indication of said position of said target stimulus as said target stimulus moves along said specific pattern of visual form or motion and said signal-to-noise ratio and stimulus sequence duration changes;

analyzing the subject'"'"'s positional error with respect to said position of said target stimulus and observed subject response motion dynamics errors associated with the subject'"'"'s ability to respond to said movement of said target stimulus and from said analyzing relating to the stimulus domain and physical portion of the subject'"'"'s brain;

adjusting the signal-to-noise ratio relating to said target stimulus and non-target stimulus wherein the signal-to-noise ratio is increased until the subject has correctly identified the target stimuli in response to said analyzing step for assessing the subject'"'"'s responses to said target stimulus as a relationship to the subject'"'"'s mental processing abilities in a desired stimulus domain and physical portion of the subject'"'"'s brain;

creating a subject score deriving from the subject'"'"'s accuracy, speed, and precision in responding to said changes in said signal-to-noise ratios and stimulus sequence durations of said at least two stimuli relating to the function of the subject'"'"'s stimulus domain and operational performance of a physical portion of the subject'"'"'s brain;

adjusting said subject score relative to a normal range derived from at least one comparison subject group studied under at least one stimulus condition;

deriving critical performance parameters from said subject score, said critical performance parameters relating to the stimulus domain and operational performance of a physical portion of the subject'"'"'s brain for deriving information associated with brain functional disorders or injury from diverse causes in the subject;

controllably recording and displaying on said computer screen said critical performance parameters and confidence interval parameters associated with said critical performance parameters;

and using said critical performance parameters in assessing, evaluating, or determining a possible presence, onset, progression, or therapeutic response of performance impairments related to the central nervous system functioning of the subject and relating to the stimulus domain and operational performance of a physical portion of the subject'"'"'s brain.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of presenting is repeated more than once.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one set of one or more symbols comprises a word in the English language.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one set of one or more symbols comprises a plurality of words in the English language.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one set of one or more symbols comprises a non-word in the English language.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one set of one or more symbols comprises a plurality of non-words in the English language.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one set of one or more symbols are at least one of the following:

inverted;

flipped;

mirrored; and

rotated.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a saliency of said at least one set of one or more symbols is modulated to a higher saliency.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a saliency of said at least one set of one or more symbols is modulated to a lower saliency.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said movement is discontinuous.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said movement is continuous.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said movement is associated with change in velocity.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said movement is associated with a random location.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said critical performance parameters is implemented in a different functional impairment assessment test.