Extracting Dementia Symptoms in Elderly Using Ocular Motor Activity During Pupil Light Reflexes to Chromatic Light Pulses on Either Eye

In order to improve the accuracy of a procedure for detecting symptoms of dementia, features of ocular oscillation are examined, in addition to features of waveforms of pupil light reflexes (PLRs) of both eyes in response to blue or red light pulses directed toward either eye. An experiment was conducted using elderly people with three levels of cognitive performance: Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and a normal control group. In order to classify participants, two regression functions using extracted variables were introduced to the diagnosis. The results confirm the effectiveness of measuring features of ocular oscillation as a method of classifying patients. As PLR responses of each eye were different during light pulse irradiations of the eye on the left or right side, overall performance may be improved by using two independent classifications.