Summary
This review highlights how non-invasive ocular assessments — including saccade patterns, pupillary responses, blinking, and retinal microvasculature imaging — can serve as early diagnostic biomarkers for cognitive and psychiatric disorders. For lighting and healthcare environments, these findings suggest that monitoring ocular responses could support early screening and intervention programs, particularly relevant in settings where circadian light exposure affects pupillary and retinal health.
Key Findings
- Saccades, pupillary responses, and blinking patterns are identified as potential biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease, ASD, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder.
- Retinal microvasculature and morphology visualized through office-based ophthalmic imaging show promise for non-invasive cognitive disorder screening.
- Machine-learning and deep-learning AI approaches are emerging as tools to interpret ocular biomarker data for cognitive and psychiatric disorder evaluation.
- Review concludes that ocular assessments offer a non-invasive, real-time window into central nervous system function tied to emotional and cognitive processing.
Categories
Eye Health & Vision: Reviews ocular biomarkers (saccades, pupillary responses, retinal microvasculature) as diagnostic tools for cognitive and psychiatric disorders.
Dementia & Elder Care: Discusses ocular assessment approaches for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using retinal imaging and eye movement patterns.
Mood & Mental Wellness: Covers ocular biomarkers relevant to major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia screening.
Author(s)
X Li, X Chen, F Fan, L Ning, K Lin, Z Chen
Publication Year
2019
Related Publications
Eye Health & Vision
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Genetic reactivation of cone photoreceptors restores visual responses in retinitis pigmentosa
- Melanopsin and rod–cone photoreceptors play different roles in mediating pupillary light responses during exposure to continuous light in humans
- Characteristic patterns of dendritic remodeling in early-stage glaucoma: evidence from genetically identified retinal ganglion cell types
- Intrinsically photosensitive melanopsin retinal ganglion cell contributions to the pupillary light reflex and circadian rhythm
Dementia & Elder Care
- Light therapy and Alzheimer's disease and related dementia: past, present, and future
- New strategies for neuroprotection in glaucoma, a disease that affects the central nervous system
- Sleep and circadian rhythms in Parkinson's disease and preclinical models
- Chronobioengineering indoor lighting to enhance facilities for ageing and Alzheimer's disorder
- The clock is ticking. Ageing of the circadian system: from physiology to cell cycle
Mood & Mental Wellness
- The two‐process model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Protecting the melatonin rhythm through circadian healthy light exposure
- Effects of artificial dawn and morning blue light on daytime cognitive performance, well-being, cortisol and melatonin levels
- Light therapy and Alzheimer's disease and related dementia: past, present, and future
- The role of daylight for humans: gaps in current knowledge