SBIR Phase I: Visuotactile tests of mental domains

Award ID: 2014693

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I is better outcomes and lower costs for people with major neurological or psychiatric conditions. The proposed technology will offer a set of tests for assessment of cognitive function. Millions of Americans suffer persistent emotional, cognitive, or sensorimotor dysfunction after experiencing traumatic brain injury. The proposed system will operate on standard mobile devices to facilitate easy diagnosis and treatment. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will establish the feasibility of developing a battery of visuotactile tests to assess mental domains. The proposed study will yield stimulus-response data (psychometric functions) based on novel visuotactile measures and compare them to analogous functions based on gold-standard measures that are much less accessible. Personalized testing will maximize interpretability by customizing stimulus parameters for each individual and testing session, thus minimizing the likelihood of floor and ceiling effects. The feasibility aims will be achieved if psychometric trends for the proposed measures match those found for analogous gold-standard measures. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Alastair Monk