Abstract
People with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) struggle with social interactions and the recognition of emotions. Currently, questionnaires with pen and paper are used to diagnose people with bvFTD. In these questionnaires, people are asked to identify faux pas scenarios based on a short text. However, these questionnaires cannot convey enough emotion or realism for the test to be effective in recognizing early stages of bvFTD. We created Tommy’s Quest, a serious game to support bvFTD detection. Based on the Theory of Mind, the game gently leads players to consider what the in-game characters are thinking, as this is often challenging for people with bvFTD. Tommy’s Quest gives players an immersive feeling while answering the same type of questions as in the questionnaires currently used. However, the questions in the game are incorporated into a story which makes them less obvious. Moreover, the scenarios feel more real because they feature characters with emotions. The game generates a report based on the answers and choices of the player, to help researchers in their bvFTD diagnosis. An upcoming clinical study will be instrumental in assessing the potential of Tommy’s Quest to help clinicians improve the diagnosis of bvFTD.
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We thank Jackie Poos of the Erasmus University Medical Center for her support and guidance throughout this project.
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Bekooy, M., Berendsen, D.D., Dierikx, M., Piepenbrink, R., van Rhenen, JW., Bidarra, R. (2023). A Theory-of-mind Game for the Early Detection of Frontotemporal Dementia. In: Holloway-Attaway, L., Murray, J.T. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14384. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47658-7_12
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