Motion Study to Help Diagnose Schizophrenia & Depression

A team of scientists has conducted a study which could help psychiatrists better understand abnormal brain processes in psychological conditions.

When elderly drivers get behind the wheel, they often confront the harrowing reality that they cannot easily see other cars, pedestrians, or cyclists moving around them. This frightening effect of aging is not necessarily a result of a reduced ability to perceive moving objects, as one might suspect, but a heightened awareness of the backdrop against which these objects move.

A team of scientists led by University of Rochester Professor Duje Tadin has isolated the cause of this phenomenon, and the surprising results could not only help train elderly people to be better drivers, but they could also help psychiatrists better understand abnormal brain processes in psychological conditions like depression and schizophrenia. Their research was published in the J