The attention atlas virtual reality platform maps three-dimensional (3D) attention in unilateral spatial neglect patients: a protocol

Michael Francis Norwood; David Ross Painter; Chelsea Hannah Marsh; Connor Reid; Trevor Hine; Daniel S. Harvie; Susan Jones; Kelly Dungey; Ben Chen; Marilia Libera; Leslie Gan; Julie Bernhardt; Elizabeth Kendall; Heidi Zeeman

doi:10.1071/IB23038

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 24(3)

The attention atlas virtual reality platform maps three-dimensional (3D) attention in unilateral spatial neglect patients: a protocol

Michael Francis Norwood

^A ^* , David Ross Painter ^A , Chelsea Hannah Marsh ^A ^B , Connor Reid ^C , Trevor Hine ^D , Daniel S. Harvie ^A ^E , Susan Jones ^F , Kelly Dungey ^F , Ben Chen ^G , Marilia Libera ^H , Leslie Gan ^I , Julie Bernhardt ^J , Elizabeth Kendall ^A and Heidi Zeeman ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A The Hopkins Centre, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Meadowbrook, QLD, Australia

^B School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

^C Technical Partners Health (TPH), Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

^D School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD, Australia

^E Innovation, Implementation and Clinical Translation in Health (IIMPACT in Health), Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

^F Neurosciences Rehabilitation Unit, Gold Coast University Hospital, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

^G Allied Health and Rehabilitation, Emergency and Specialty Services, Gold Coast Health, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

^H Psychology Department, Logan Hospital, Logan, QLD, Australia

^I Rehabilitation Unit, Logan Hospital, Meadowbrook, QLD, Australia

^J Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia

^* Correspondence to: m.norwood@griffith.edu.au

Brain Impairment 24(3) 548-567 https://doi.org/10.1017/BrImp.2022.15

Submitted: 1 November 2021 Accepted: 4 April 2022 Published: 30 May 2022

© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.

Abstract

Background:

Deficits in visuospatial attention, known as neglect, are common following brain injury, but underdiagnosed and poorly treated, resulting in long-term cognitive disability. In clinical settings, neglect is often assessed using simple pen-and-paper tests. While convenient, these cannot characterise the full spectrum of neglect. This protocol reports a research programme that compares traditional neglect assessments with a novel virtual reality attention assessment platform: The Attention Atlas (AA).

Methods/design:

The AA was codesigned by researchers and clinicians to meet the clinical need for improved neglect assessment. The AA uses a visual search paradigm to map the attended space in three dimensions and seeks to identify the optimal parameters that best distinguish neglect from non-neglect, and the spectrum of neglect, by providing near-time feedback to clinicians on system-level behavioural performance. A series of experiments will address procedural, scientific, patient, and clinical feasibility domains.

Results:

Analyses focuses on descriptive measures of reaction time, accuracy data for target localisation, and histogram-based raycast attentional mapping analysis; which measures the individual’s orientation in space, and inter- and intra-individual variation of visuospatial attention. We will compare neglect and control data using parametric between-subjects analyses. We present example individual-level results produced in near-time during visual search.

Conclusions:

The development and validation of the AA is part of a new generation of translational neuroscience that exploits the latest advances in technology and brain science, including technology repurposed from the consumer gaming market. This approach to rehabilitation has the potential for highly accurate, highly engaging, personalised care.

Keywords: Immersive virtual reality, gamification, neglect, stroke, neuropsychological assessment, visual search, eye-tracking.

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