Abstract

The University of East Anglia’s involvement in dementia research has contributed significantly to advancing our understanding of the detection and early signs of dementia, right through to the care and post-diagnosis support required for someone living with the disease.

Major findings have come from a game called Sea Hero Quest, an adventure game encompassing different levels where the player is taken into a virtual reality world. The player needs to navigate through the land by using landmarks and visual clues, all with the aim of collecting lost pieces of an ocean journal belonging to their father.

It was Michael Hornberger, the professor of dementia research at UEA who co-developed the game. Amazingly, the first 12 months since the launch of Sea Hero Quest attracted a staggering 2.8 million people to play the game. This amount of data equates to hundreds of years’ worth of lab research. This highlights the power apps have in research when used in the correct way and suggests research doesn’t always have to involve lengthy hours of working in a laboratory.