Psychology research
on a smartphone:
Some experiments
Dr. Caspar Addyman Birkbeck, University of London
University of Warwick,
Coventry
Thursday, 9th May 2013
Boozerlyzer
TRACX
uMotif
Alien Rabble
Addyman, 2009
Laboratory Real world
7 year olds 11 year olds Adults
• Participants do learn! p<0.001
• Learn different categories differently, p<0.003
• Difference between age groups, p<0.002
7 year olds 11 year olds Adults
• “Can I get this on my computer?”
• “I know this game! I’ve got it at home.”
• “Are we doing this every Tuesday?”
Boozerlyzer
Motivations
How much am I drinking?
How is this affecting me
cognitively & emotionally?
Tracking can change
behaviour
Tracking data is rich data
Motivations 2
Alcohol is a drug.
The most widely used
and abused drug
The most harmful to
individuals
The most harmful to
society
(ISCD 2010)
http://boozerlyzer.net https://github.com/yourbrain
Open Science / Open Data
boozerlyzer.net
Private
Public
Boozerlyzer results
Addyman (in prep)
Self Reported Happiness
Boozerlyzer results
Addyman (in prep)
Self Reported Energy
Boozerlyzer results
Addyman (in prep)
Self Reported Drunkeness
Boozerlyzer results
Addyman (in prep)
Coordination game Number Stroop game
Boozerlyzer Summary
• Users
• Costs
• Data
• Effects
• Results
TRACX
(French, Addyman & Mareschal, Psych Rev, 2011)
Truncated Recursive Autoassocative
Chunk Extractor
(French, Addyman & Mareschal, Psych Rev, 2011)
http://leadserv.u-bourgogne.fr/~tracx/
http://github.com/YourBrain/TRACX-Web
Computational modeling manifesto (Addyman & French, ToPICS, 2012)
1.Let EVERYONE run your simulations
(easily)
2.Let motivated users adjust parameters/
run their own simulations
3.Let other modelers use your code4. Write good documentation
5. Clear mapping between model and empirical data
6. Show internal structure
7. Allow import/export to Excel, etc
uMotif
www.umotif.com
Amsterdam, November 2011
Parkinson’s Disease
• Neurodegenerative condition due to death of
dopamine producing cells in brain.
• Motor / movement related symptoms
• Later cognitive problems & effects of
medication
• Levodopa (L-DOPA), a dopamine precursor
• Affects 1.1 million people in Europe (127,000 in
UK)
• Cost of care/medication €10.7billion per year (
€7,000 per patient per year.)
• Symptoms can be highly sensitive to dose and
timing of medication.
Strategic Business
Research Initiative
(SBRI)
1 2
SBRI
• Phase 1 funding £75,000 from NHS Health
Enterprise East
• 6 month development and pilot testing
• Lambert 4 commercial agreement between
Birkbeck & uMotif
• Research costs
• 5% royalty on sales
• Cure Parkinson’s Trust – access to people with
Parkinson’s
Sleep
Tremor
Dyskinesia
Suppleness
Bradykinesia
Water
Exercise
Mood
Energy
Medication
Finger Tapping
Numerical Stroop Test
Randomized Control Trial
• 40 participants in two groups
• PARTIAL - Self report only
• FULL - Self report + objective measures
• Use tracker for 2 months
• Questionnaires before & after:
• Medicine compliance
• Parkinson’s symptoms
• Oxford Happiness Index
• Multidimensional Personality assessment
• Quality of Life Scale for people with
chronic illness
Trial: 41 recruited,
26 used application,
16 completed de-briefing
70%Av. daily use during 2
month trial period
“Excellent in conception and ease of use”
“I find it very attractive & extremely easy to use”
Patient Feedback:
Pre & post test questionnaires (n=16)
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
START END
PD
Q-3
9 S
co
re
PDQ-39 Scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
START END
NM
S S
co
re
Non-Motor Symptoms
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
02468
1012141618
START END
QO
LS
Sco
re
Quality of Life Score (QOLS)
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
START END
Med
icin
es S
co
re
Moritsky Medicines compliance (Higher is worse)
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
In – App data - Parkinson’s symptoms
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START ENDAvera
ge
Self
Rati
ng
Suppleness scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START END
Avera
ge
Self
R
ati
ng
Tremor scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START ENDAvera
ge
Self
Rati
ng
Dyskinesia scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START ENDAvera
ge
Self
Rati
ng
Bradykinesia scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
In – App data - Mood, Energy & Sleep
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START ENDAvera
ge
Self
Rati
ng
Mood scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START END
Avera
ge
Self
R
ati
ng
Energy scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
**
† p<.1, ** p<.01
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START END
Avera
ge
Self
R
ati
ng
Sleep scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
†
In – App data - Health Behaviours
***
* p<.05, *** p<.005
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START END
Avera
ge
Self
Rati
ng
Water scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
1
1.52
2.5
33.5
4
4.55
START END
Avera
ge
Self
R
ati
ng
Exercise scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
*
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
START END
Avera
ge
Self
R
ati
ng
Medication scores
FULL APP
LIMITED APP
Phase 2 - FUNDED
300 patient multi-centre test lasting 6 months
Suvankar Pal,
Rowling Centre and Forth
Valley
Mo
Albazzaz, Barnsl
ey Hospital
Ben Chico,
Rotherham
Ray
Chaudhuri, Kings
College
Julian Fearnley,
Barts and The Royal
London
Beverly Castleton,
St Peter’s
Hospital, Surrey
Andrew
Fowlie, NHS
Grampian
Max Little,
Aston University
IoN
Parkinson’s Tracker
• Users
• Costs
• Data
• Effects
• Results
Thank you!
@BrainStraining
http://boozerlyzer.net
http://umotif.com
Boozerlyzer
• 57 new recreational
drugs in EU in 2012
(EMCDDA)
• Most casual drug users
are poly drug users
• Self experimentation
requires better data
• Big data = better data
http://www.flickr.com/photos/genista/249525571/
The next step.. other drugs?
Boozerlyzer
Bufo alvarius Epipedobates tricolor