Eye-tracking controlled cognitive function tests in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a controlled proof-of-principle study

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) primarily affects motor and speech abilities. In addition, cognitive functions are impaired in a subset of patients. There is a need to establish an eye movement-based method of neuropsychological assessment suitable for severely physically impaired patients with ALS. Forty-eight ALS patients and thirty-two healthy controls matched for age, sex and education performed a hand and speech motor-free version of the Raven’s coloured progressive matrices (CPM) and the D2-test which had been especially adapted for eye-tracking control. Data were compared to a classical motor-dependent paper–pencil version. The association of parameters of the eye-tracking and the paper–pencil version of the tests and the differences between and within groups were studied. Subjects presented similar results in the eye-tracking and the corresponding paper–pencil versions of the CPM and D2-test: a correlation between performance accuracy for the CPM was observed for ALS patients (p