"Sea Hero Quest" is a mobile game created to support the biggest dementia study created by scientists. The game focuses on spatial navigation, which is helpful in detecting dementia in individuals.
"Sea Hero Quest" is a mobile game that collects data for dementia research, and the mobile game was created under the collaboration of Alzheimer's Research UK, University College London (UCL), and University of East Anglia. The game was designed by British company Glitchers and was funded by Deutsche Telekom, according to The Guardian.
The gameplay for "Sea Hero Quest" revolves around the adventure of an old sailor trying to preserve his memories. The game tests the player's spatial navigation skills by navigating a boat on ruffled waters. The mobile game also includes a diagnostic test that will detect early signs of Alzheimer's.
The game has been played by around 2.5 million people, contributing to the biggest dementia research to date.
BBC reports that "Sea Hero Quest" anonymously records the gamer's sense of direction and navigational ability as they progress through each level.
Scientists from the University College London first analyzed data collected from the game where the player has to fire a flare back home at a certain level. The results from their study suggests that a person's sense of direction deteriorates once they pass their teenage years.
There was a 74 percent accuracy at the flare level with players aged 19 years old, which declined consistently to 46 percent at players aged 75 years old.
The head of UCL's Spiers Lab — Dr. Hugo Spiers — told the BBC that, "What we're able to announce to the world is it does decline across the lifespan, the ability to shoot the flare back to the target - that sense of direction."
They were also able to conclude from the data that men are slightly better when it comes to a sense of direction as compared to women, and that the Nordic nations are better than the remaining parts of the world.
"Sea Hero Quest" is available for download on Google Play and iTunes.
