New study shows digital tests can uncover Alzheimer’s signs well ahead of clinical diagnosis
Key Takeaways:
- A recent review published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease demonstrates that digital cognitive tests can detect signs of Alzheimer’s and other dementias long before traditional methods.
- Researchers identified that tiny delays in response times — even when answers are fully correct — serve as early biomarkers of cognitive decline.
- The approach builds on the Boston Process Approach, emphasising the value of analysing how individuals arrive at answers, not merely whether they are correct.
Digital Testing Shown to Identify Dementia Risk Well Before Symptoms Appear
A new study featured in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has provided compelling evidence that digital cognitive assessments can uncover the earliest, often imperceptible, indications of cognitive decline — potentially years before conventional diagnostic methods or overt symptoms would allow detection. This advancement could transform how clinicians identify people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
The paper, titled “Precision neurocognition: An emerging diagnostic paradigm leveraging digital cognitive assessment technology,” was co-authored by David J. Libon, PhD, Professor at the New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging at Rowan University, and Rod Swenson, PhD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Both authors are also scientific advisors to Linus Health, a company specialising in digital brain health innovations.
Going Beyond Correctness: The Critical Role of Response Latency
The researchers focused on a key insight: that the true diagnostic power of digital assessments lies not just in whether a person answers correctly, but how quickly they do so. Their findings arose from analysing a brief, 7-minute speech-based digital cognitive test developed by Linus Health, which captures rich, quantifiable data related to neurodegenerative risk.
In their peer-reviewed synthesis, Drs. Libon and Swenson introduce new digital biomarkers based on what they term “latency” — the subtle pauses and reaction times between hearing or seeing a prompt and giving a response. They discovered that even when an individual achieves 100% accuracy on these tests, small delays in reaction times may signal early disruptions in the brain’s cognitive processing.
Dr. Libon underscored this point:
“As our review demonstrates, just because an individual answers a question on a digital assessment 100% correctly does not mean a 0% risk of cognitive impairment. We have shown here that the time it takes to correctly respond or recruit the necessary brain regions or strategies for efficient correct responding likely provides rich information regarding the probability of the eventual emergence of serious cognitive decline.”
This approach enables clinicians and researchers to detect vulnerabilities in brain health that would be invisible using traditional paper-based or purely accuracy-focused tests.
Anchored in the Boston Process Approach
The emerging model described in the study builds upon principles from the Boston Process Approach (BPA), a respected framework within neuropsychology. Developed by Dr. Edith Kaplan — under whom both Drs. Libon and Swenson trained and collaborated over many years — the BPA emphasises evaluating the process by which a person completes cognitive tasks, rather than focusing solely on the final score or outcome.
By drawing on the BPA, Linus Health’s digital assessments can uncover nuanced cognitive patterns. This allows clinicians to identify meaningful changes in the brain’s function long before such shifts would be apparent in standard assessments. As a result, this digital methodology could play a crucial role in guiding early interventions and planning for those at heightened risk of Alzheimer’s or related dementias.
