Duke Nukem Might Advance Knowledge of Depression

March 12, 2007 12:36 PM

The problem with depression is that it's quite difficult to measure in concrete terms. Or at least, was. Over at the US National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, Neda Gould and her co-workers believe they may have found a way to quantify depression: Duke Nukem.

Using a specially developed game based off Duke Nukem, the researchers created a virtual town and, after familiarizing players with the locale, challenged them to locate landmarks within a strict time limit. The more depressed a player, the less locations they visited.

The actual science behind the experiment involves the hippocampus, a section of the brain involved in spatial memory. The shrinking of the hippocampus has been linked to depression, leading Gould to postulate an experiment under which she could test a patient's spatial memory.

Chris Faylor

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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CrustaR

 reply
March 12, 2007 12:39 PM

Where are the screenshots?
- Chris Faylor
  
   reply
  March 12, 2007 12:41 PM
  
  That I don't have. I'm looking into it more right now, but my guess is that they used an old version of Duke Nukem 3D and their own custom map.
  - Sylvanus
    
     reply
    March 12, 2007 12:53 PM
    
    It would be cool if there was a self-test of some type.
    - JeffThorsen777
      
       reply
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