Researchers have developed a video game to help flag early Alzheimer’s (8 Photos)

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Sea Hero Quest

Growing up, we were told that no good would ever come from video games. It would rot our brains, kill our eyes, make us stupid, fat, and lazy, and it’d all be downhill from there. Thankfully, we live in an age, where that’s being proved incorrect on a daily basis.

In fact, you could argue that video games are saving lives. Or, at least, Sea Hero Quest is.

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Sea Hero Quest

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 5.8 Million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s dementia, and deaths stemming from this condition have risen 145% between 2000 and 2017. While it can take up to 20 years to go from early symptoms to a full-on case, the earlier you start treatment, the better the outcome.

This is where this mobile game comes in.

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Pixabay

This game came out of a partnership between Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, British game studio Glitchers and the University College of London, as well as other European universities.

While most people associate memory problems with Alzheimer’s, that’s actually a late stage symptom. There are plenty more symptoms that indicate the signs of early dementia, including navigation, 3D spatial awareness, and cognitive functioning.

If you can work within those early symptoms, you can figure out a more effective treatment.

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Sea Hero Quest

The point of the VR game, is about a son trying to help his father recover his memories. Players have to navigate and control a virtual boat. They’re given a map and shown checkpoints. Than, at some point, those checkpoints are taken away and players have to navigate from memory.

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Sea Hero Quest

See, no checkpoint markers.

As well, once at the checkpoints, they have to navigate mazes, shoot flares to test orientation, and chase creatures to take photos of them.

All these tasks offer valuable information.

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Sea Hero Quest

Shared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), what makes this game more remarkable is that by playing the game for 2 minutes, you can generate the same amount of data that would take researchers 5 hours to collect.

Considering that this game debuted in 2016, and had over 3 million players, that’s over 1,700 years worth of research data on Alzehimer’s.

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Sea Hero Quest

While a lot of the game downloads were random people through their app stores, they also specifically targeted people with the APOE4 gene, which is thought to increase someone’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Then, they compared their results to those who don’t carry the gene, to develop a baseline for comparison.

The hope is to use the game, and other applications like it, as a screening tool to get people the right help before their symptoms go too far.

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See there son? That’s a video game making positive waves.