Jason  Tong

Jason Tong

Scholar Title

MIT EECS — Lincoln Labs Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scholar

Research Title

THink: Investigating Cognition with the Symbol-Digit Test

Cohort

2015–2016

Supervisor

Randall Davis

Abstract

The early detection of neurodegenerative diseases is critical to delaying their progression. THink aims to detect such diseases by examining performance on written tests. The Symbol-Digit Test is the latest of three cognitive tests developed by Prof. Randall Davis and focuses on subjects’ ability to translate symbols to digits given a symbol-digit mapping, directly copy digits, and recall the mapping. The tests are completed with the Anoto pen, a digitizing ballpoint pen that collects the pen’s coordinates and the pressure exerted at a temporal resolution on the order of milliseconds. In collaboration with Dr. Dana Penney of Lahey Clinic, we hope to produce a model from this wealth of data that can classify between healthy and unhealthy subjects, and even offer a preliminary diagnosis.

Quote

I am a 6-3 senior who loves dreaming of ways to augment human cognition by complementing our intelligence with machine learning. In THink, we do precisely this to further our understanding of human cognition. I have worked with the ClockSketch and MazeSketch tests, two other tests designed to enable early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, and I’m excited to approach this problem now with the Symbol-Digit test.

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