Monitoring cognition via mobile applications: iPad app analyzed

We recent­ly came across a fas­ci­nat­ing sci­en­tif­ic study, titled Exam­in­ing cog­ni­tive func­tion across the lifes­pan using a mobile appli­ca­tion (Com­put­ers in Human Behav­ior), which stud­ied the val­ue and lim­i­ta­tions of using an iPad app called “brain­base­line.”

Abstract: “Many stud­ies con­duct­ed in a lab­o­ra­to­ry or uni­ver­si­ty set­ting are lim­it­ed by fund­ing, per­son­nel, space, and time con­straints. In the present study, we intro­duce a method of data col­lec­tion using a mobile appli­ca­tion that cir­cum­vents these typ­i­cal exper­i­ment admin­is­tra­tion issues…We obtained data from more than 15,000 par­tic­i­pants and repli­cat­ed spe­cif­ic pat­terns of age-relat­ed dif­fer­ences in cognition…we also exam­ined the pro­cess­ing speed account of age-relat­ed cog­ni­tive dif­fer­ences, and the asso­ci­a­tion of exer­cise and leisure activ­i­ty with cog­ni­tive func­tion across the lifes­pan. We dis­cuss the rel­a­tive advan­tages and dis­ad­van­tages of data col­lec­tion with a mobile appli­ca­tion, and pro­vide rec­om­men­da­tions for the use of this method in research…Cognitive per­for­mance reached an asymp­tote dur­ing young adult­hood, and then declined grad­u­al­ly. ? Pro­cess­ing speed medi­ates the rela­tion­ship between age and cog­ni­tive per­for­mance. ? Exer­cise had a pos­i­tive asso­ci­a­tion with pro­cess­ing speed. ? Video game expe­ri­ence had dif­fer­ent asso­ci­a­tions with younger and old­er adult’s mem­o­ry and attention.”

An even more inter­est­ing question–outside the scope of this par­tic­u­lar study–is when and how will mobile and/ or online appli­ca­tions enable con­sumers and patients mon­i­tor their own cog­ni­tion and brain health, as we dis­cussed at the 2012 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit dur­ing the pan­el “How can empow­ered con­sumers mon­i­tor their own brain health? A miss­ing piece in today’s health toolk­it is the abil­ity for end-users to quan­tify and mon­i­tor their cog­ni­tive and emo­tional self. Giv­en grow­ing self-track­ing and self-care activ­ity, often with ques­tion­able val­ue, and sig­nif­i­cant inter­est in an “annu­al men­tal check­up”, the ques­tion aris­es: What method­olo­gies and instru­ments may help healthy users mean­ing­fully mon­i­tor their own brain health and performance?”