"ACE mobile": An Application for Dementia Evaluations (...in Neuropsychology? ...in General Practice? ...?)
A curious development for those interested in neuropsychological assessment and in assessment related to dementia, as a not-for-profit company released on the 9th of July a free mobile application that is a version of Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination.
Here is the press release: press release.
The original examination was created by Dr. John Hodges, who is involved with the mobile application as well. The name derives from his time at Cambridge (he is currently a lead researcher at an Australian neuroscience institute).
The website for the application is: acemobile.org.
Whether or how this impacts a couple of mobile devices in this same testing space being released by companies Cogstate and Cambridge Cognition (presumably to be sold, rather than released for free) will be very interesting to consider. The structure of the Addenbrooke's (at least its paper-and-pencil version) is different from both, in that it is a screen covering multiple cognitive domains with only a little coverage for each area, whilst the other two are comprised of multi-item selective tests of isolated domains.
Whether there will be professional "blowback" for the release of a psychological testing device in an uncontrolled environment is a broader and potential serious issue.
Free is commendable indeed! Unregulated in terms of user, perhaps not so much?
I am looking forward to examining the instrument and collecting documentation related to it, given the important roles that neuropsychology and neuropsychologial assessment offer in terms of understanding dementia and related cognitive impairments.
ADDENDUM: An Australian Soundcloud interview with Dr. Hodges about ACEmobile is available at this link.
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