Tech Post: 5/6

This Video Game Could Help Doctors Diagnose Dementia

A new game available on smartphones worldwide could help dementia patients. The game is called Sea Hero Quest and asks players to search for certain items in the form of memories. As you progress through the game, scientists can use your data to gain insight on your navigation abilities which is one of the first skills lost to dementia. In the app, players have to reach a checkpoint and must demonstrate their awareness of orientation. The checkpoint levels are more complicated and every half second, the app gathers data about the location of the player in the game and calculates how far the player diverges from the quickest route to the end. Then the player's data is uploaded to a data center in Germany which researchers can study but becomes anonymous.