'Mind-tracking' tech may tell us why so many children have ADHD - CNET

Super discovered a small eye movement that can be used as a marker to identify ADHD through next-generation eye-tracking techniques. "We call it mind tracking," he said in an interview.

Using Braingaze's tech, a diagnosis for ADHD can be made using commercially available eye-tracking devices, such as those made primarily for gaming from Danish startup Eye Tribe and Swedish tech company Tobii. Even when you look at something, your eyes move constantly. The tracker is looking for one specific movement that shows that you have not just looked at something, but that you have processed it at a cognitive level and memorized it.

If your eyes land on something, but the movement does not occur, "you may have looked at the stimulus but you don't perceive it and pay attention to it," Super said.

A child suspected of having ADHD would be diagnosed using eye-tracking data collected as they play a video game -- essentially a task rich in visual stimuli. Children who have ADHD have been shown to exhibit an eye movement that is impaired or distorted when compared to children without ADHD, and Braingaze's analysis software has been trained to search for this in the data.

The report is then fed to the doctor responsible for analyzing the child, giving them something objective to support their conclusion alongside the more subjective psychological analysis.

The way these psychological assessments are conducted are rife with faults, according to Newmark. Problems include the lack of standardization, rushed evaluations by pediatricians and others, lack of expertise, and pressure to medicate from schools and parents.

One piece of the puzzle

Braingaze's analysis boasts scientific evidence to support its case, as published in joual Plos One. But it is likely that the psychological assessment will continue to be an important part of diagnosing ADHD, which is ultimately classified as a mental illness.