Measurement of driving routes and correlation to optimal navigation paths

This paper explores the potential for sensor systems to instrument the performance of a high cognition task (driving) as a means to detect cognitive change/decline. Clinical measurement of cognitive function is a sample at a point in time and impacted by variability in how the subject feels and their environment at that point and may not reflect the progression of cognitive illness. Hence it is not a good predictor of a subject´s ability or change in ability to perform instrumental activities of daily living. Specifically in this paper, cognition for navigation is measured using GPS tracking data and analyzed to determine a number of attributes of cognitive ability such as navigation decisions for trip stops, route and road path choice. These are then correlated with the attributes for a gold standard (derived Google maps routing) trip reference. The measurement of efficiency for the overall trip and specific navigation choices provides a baseline for a patient´s cognitive performance. Cognitive change could be detected through changes in behavior relative to this baseline including less efficient trip planning, reduced trip complexity or less optimal navigation through use of inefficient but more familiar routes as coping mechanisms.