A Coquitlam company is developing a smartphone-based app capable of tracking brain fitness the same way many other apps track physical fitness.
Photonic Signatures is working with the National Research Council of Canada along SFU's Digital Health Hub and Digital Health Circle to create technology that company co-founder and CEO Ramin Estifaie said will have applications in sports, wellness and the study of cognitive health.
“As life expectancy increases globally, societies will be faced with the challenge of age-related cognitive decline,” Estifaie said. “We’re building a solution that everyone can use at home to monitor their brain’s health.”
The test uses eye-tracking technology to collect data on pupil movement as a ball moves across a screen. (While the test is still in the research phase, it can only be administered on a tablet but Estifaie said eventually, it will be able to be taken on a smartphone.)
At the end of the test, a person is given a score that can establish a baseline for their cognitive function.
Photonic Signatures is a subsidiary of Canadian Sports Nutrition, and the two firms are working to see how the brain app technology works in the field of sports nutrition and dietary supplements.
Estifaie said most customers today take it on faith that the products they are buying are helping their cognitive function. But with the new app, they will be able to see which supplements are having an impact before spending lot of money on products that may not be working for them.
“Does it really work or not? We are not sure… maybe people get disappointed and discontinue,” he said. But now a consumer can take “the test on the app. Take the product. Take the test again in the next two or three weeks and really understand it is working or not."
The brain test could have applications beyond health products. Estifaie said the technology could give people an early indicator whether they are experiencing early signs of Alzhemier’s or forms of dementia.
“A lot of people are really curious about what is going to happen in their brain in their 50s and 60s,” he said. “We want to understand that at an early age.”
