MapHabit and Neurotrack

Alzheimer’s and other dementias are progressively deteriorating conditions.

“We wondered, ‘Are there things that we can do to help maintain the person’s independence longer?’” says Stuart Zola, former director of Emory National Primate Research Center and Emory professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences emeritus.

The result: not one but two helpful innovations.

The evidence-based app MapHabit is focused on the concept that good health is rooted in daily habits. Those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) may need assistance remembering and performing healthy habits such as hygiene as well as managing comorbidities like diabetes or high blood pressure.

Mapping your habitat

MapHabit, an app that offers step-by-step, customizable photos and videos, was developed by Zola and Emory business alum Matt Golden. The evidence-based app enables users to capture images from their daily living routines, such as brushing teeth or taking medicine, to create true-to-life modules of how to perform that task.

Pictures and videos feature the users’ own surroundings and belongings. MapHabit users receive a personal encrypted device, which only shows MapHabit content and can send daily reminders, develop a custom care plan, and communicate with family members and clinicians.

“The idea of developing MapHabit revolved around visual mapping, a technique I used to teach, which creates associations and develops a visual map of these associations to depict a bigger picture,” says Zola.

MapHabit not only supports the brain health and habit memory of those living with dementia, it also supports their caregivers. In NIH-supported studies, 75 percent of participants reported an improvement, and caregivers reported a 35 percent reduction in stress.

Early detection

Neurotrack Technologies uses an FDA-registered device to provide clinicians with a three-minute cognitive screening to aid in the early detection of cognitive decline.

It can help decipher the difference between typical signs of aging and those from early onset Alzheimer’s. Just two in five adults with probable dementia have a diagnosis, and early intervention is key.

Neurotrack was developed based on Zola’s and a colleague’s research at Emory’s National Primate Research Center, which led to the discovery that cognitive decline could be identified using eye-tracking technologies.

“Our focus is on early detection of cognitive decline and interventions that you might begin to develop if you have some idea that you might be on that trajectory. For example, we know that things like sleep, good nutrition, exercise and staying cognitively engaged are the pillars that might help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.”