Oculometric Assessment of Mild Neural Impairment

Abstract:

For over 100 years, neurologists have used eye movements to identify neural impairment, disease, or injury. Prior to the age of modern imaging, qualitative assessment of eye movements was a critical, routine component of diagnosis and remains today a routine law-enforcement tool for detecting impaired driving due to drugs or alcohol. We will describe the application of a simple 5-minute oculomotor tracking task coupled with a broad range of quantitative analyses of high-resolution oculomotor measurements for the sensitive detection of sub-clinical neural impairment and for the potential differentiation of various causes. Specifically, we will show that there are distinct patterns of impairment across our set of oculometric parameters observed with brain trauma, sleep and circadian disruption, and alcohol consumption. Such differences could form the basis of a self-administered medical monitoring or diagnostic support tool.