He hopes that soon this computer-led approach will lead to low-cost, widely available tests that don’t require expert reading. It would be particularly useful for diagnosing ADHD and autism, which do not currently have identifiable biomarkers (instead, a diagnosis depends largely on observed behavior). Imagine eye-tracking tests for mental and neurological disorders becoming as ubiquitous as blood-pressure tests are today—that is Itti’s vision.
Itti and his collaborators, including Douglas Munoz, director of the Queens University Center for Neuroscience Studies, are expanding their line of research. Munoz is currently pursuing wider trials of the computer-led, “free viewing” eye-tracking method at Toronto-area hospitals. The goal is to determine whether their test can continue to accurately identify disorders, both in children with developmental problems and elderly people with neurodegenerative disease.
To be useful in the clinical setting, however, any new screening test must prove itself against simpler tools already in use—for example, an online questionnaire that a parent could fill out about a child’s behavioral patterns, as Gregory Young, a developmental psychologist at the University of California, Davis, MIND Institute who has worked with eye-tracking in his own research, points out.
A thorough diagnosis of autism, ADHD and other developmental disorders takes time and depends on wide observation of children in their natural environments, which is precisely why a simple diagnostic tool is so appealing. But Young says that it is important not to underestimate the complexity of such disorders. “Creating an automated system to aid in screening, I could see that,” he says. “Where it becomes problematic is when we pin our hopes that a single tool could give a complete diagnosis.”
Both Itti and Munoz agree. Although their test yields automated results, it is not meant to replace a more thorough assessment by a specialist. As Munoz explains, “We’re looking to create an easy, low-cost way to initiatediagnosis: step 1, you watch 10 to 15 minutes of TV, and then the computer program can classify you as ‘everything’s okay’ or ‘something’s wrong.’ The ‘something’s wrong’ doesn’t mean you get a label yet, but it does raise a flag that additional intervention may be required,” he says.
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