A computer is provided along with a method for testing users for alertness and mental fitness. The system and method are usable wherever there is a risk to persons, property, or the environment from individuals not fit to operate machinery or enter an work area safely, or for testing a user for dementia or other neurological impairment. The testing methods resemble computer games, but they actually measure mental fitness and alertness rather than aptitude, ability, or intelligence. The disclosed basic test is general, simple and non-intellectual, and compatible with worldwide, multilingual use. Other tests are more specifically designed to test for the ability to perform certain occupational duties or types of activities. Tests which measure neurological impairment do involve some intellectual functions such as memory. The basic test preferably comprises a plurality of yes or no questions based upon graphical data displayed to the user. Each user's answers and performance are preferably maintained in strict confidence through storage only on a removable storage medium, such as a Smart Card. Some neurological tests, such as for Parkinson's disease, may entail measuring finger tremors.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/053,111, entitled Alertness Tester, filed Apr. 1, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,538, which is incorporated herein by reference. Also incorporated herein by reference is U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/058,841, entitled Brain Function Tester for All Ages, filed Sep. 15, 1997. Also incorporated herein by reference are the following disclosure documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: U.S. Pat. No. 394,198, entitled Special Purpose Computer System for Alertness and Readiness Testing, filed Mar. 4, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 383,562, entitled Multilingual Software and its Use in Dedicated Computer System Used for Alertness and Readiness Testing, filed Mar. 11, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 399,622, entitled Software and Hardware System to Test Alertness and Fitness, filed Jun. 6, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 405,957, entitled Nonlinguistic Turnkey Test System for Mental Alertness and Awakeness, filed Oct. 16, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 422,723, entitled Alertness Testing System with Alertness Gauge, filed Aug. 6, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No. 423,524, entitled Medical, Visual and Psychomotor Testing System, filed Aug. 21, 1997.
A mentation test method that can test mentation of a human such as conjecture of brain's mentation age, discrimination of early stage of dementia and prediction of onset of dementia in addition to diagnosis of prediction probability of onset of dementia and screening of mental functions of senile dementia patients, decision of the effect of rehabilitation of the aftereffects of cerebrovascular disfunction, investigation of the therapeutic effects of medicines and side effects such as sleepiness, testing of degree of intoxication, testing of peripheral attention visual field, testing of cerebral dominant hemisphere, testing of various psychoneurosis such as schizophrenia and cerebrovascular disorder (syndrome and diagnosis, and decision of the effects of rehabilitation and treatment), and check of the degree of fatigue.
A mentation test method that can test mentation of a human such as conjecture of brain's mentation age, discrimination of early stage of dementia and prediction of onset of dementia in addition to diagnosis of prediction probability of onset of dementia and screening of mental functions of senile dementia patients, decision of the effect of rehabilitation of the aftereffects of cerebrovascular disfunction, investigation of the therapeutic effects of medicines and side effects such as sleepiness, testing of degree of intoxication, testing of peripheral attention visual field, testing of cerebral dominant hemisphere, testing of various psychoneurosis such as schizophrenia and cerebrovascular disorder (syndrome and diagnosis, and decision of the effects of rehabilitation and treatment), and check of the degree of fatigue.
A portable device for collecting information about a human body is adapted to be worn on the human body and is capable of periodically performing cognitive faculty tests during daily life to discern fluctuations in the memory faculty of a wearer. The device displays a problem of cognitive tests on a display unit, and a wearer inputs an answer with an input unit. The wearer's response time is clocked with a clock unit, and the answer and the response time are stored in a memory unit in time sequence by control of a control circuit. The device can include a detection unit for detecting a living body signal to enable research on the relationship between behavioral patterns or temperamental trends and memory faculties, and the like.
An apparatus and method for rehabilitating patients and assessing tactile skills in response to visual stimuli generated from a portable neural training device. The device generates a visual output to elicit tactile response (hand movement) from the patient. The device preferably automatically adjusts the difficulty of a session in response to demonstrated patient skill level (i.e. combination of correct responses, speed, and accuracy of responses). The invention evaluates and challenges the patient to control tactile response, overcome visual perception difficulties, or practice simple multi-tasking or reasoning skills. The invention also provides information which is valuable to those administering the rehabilitation program or assessing patient skill and/or progress. By way of example the neural training device is described with an embodiment having discrete fixed keys and an embodiment utilizing a touch sensitive display screen.
