Human movements are random. From a Deep Learning and Statistical analysis of millisecond fluctuations found in the motor kinematic variables, we unravel diagnostics and biomarkers that quantify cognitive abilities
Jorge V. José (Physics Department and Stark Neuroscience Research Institute, Indiana University, USA)
Movement is an essential part of the sequential dance of behaviors that comprise fluid social communications. The simple act of reaching an object — an act accomplished easily many times per day—demands an incredible amount of coordination between the visual field to locate the object to initiate the reach movement toward the object. Daily movements considered separately or in an aggregate, can reveal a great deal about neuromotor control and cognitive abilities. It has been recognized that atypical movements may interfere with the development of adaptive skills, in particular for children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). We measured several rotational and translational kinematic variables using millisecond motor sensors, away from naked eye detection, when NDD individuals performed a reaching paradigm. Doing first a Deep Learning analyses of the electronic noisy signal we are able to diagnose NDD conditions of new individuals with close to 90% accuracy. We filtered out the electronic noise that allowed to introduce statistical nearest-neighbor fluctuation biometrics that quantify the degree of severity of each NDD participant. In this lecture I will discuss the relationship between our personal movement DNA and corresponding cognitive abilities [1-3].
[1] E. B. Torres, J. V. José et al. , Autism: the micro-movement perspective. Frontiers in integrative neuroscience 7, 32 (2013).
[2] D. Wu, J. V. José, J. I. Nurnberger, E. B. Torres, A biomarker characterizingneurodevelopment with applications in autism. Scientific reports (Nature) 8, 1–14 (2018).
[3] K. P. Doctor, J. V. José et al. “AI Screening plus Statistical Severity Biometric Studies of Neurodivergent Disorders” (under review at PNAS Nexus).