VR Game Ties Depression To Brain Area

An anonymous reader writes "Science Daily is reporting that scientists are using a VR videogame that challenges spatial memory as a new tool to map out depression in the brain. 'Spatial memory' is how you orient yourself in space and remember how to get to places in the outside world. Researchers have found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared, suggesting that their hippocampi (where spatial memory is based) were not working properly."

Comments

Anecdotal Evidence to the contrary.

[Nalanthi]

When I get depressed it seems to have no effect on my ability to play FPS games and navigate the maps. Many of my friends marvel at my ability to play a map once and have my routes down. Indeed, much or my experience playing these games was while not attending class due to depression.

Objective test for depression?

[grassy_knoll]

From TFA:

Thus, the video game is a more revealing measure of spatial memory and a more sensitive measure of hippocampal dysfunction -- a more powerful tool for exploring the link between the hippocampus and depression. It may one day be a tool for detecting hippocampus deficits in depressed patients.

Emphasis mine.

I'd like to see an objective rather than subjective test for depression.

If nothing else, an objective test would be useful in convincing potential patients ( and those who care about them ) that the potential patient has depression, rather than just "feels bad" [1]. The results of, say, a blood test vs. the responses on a questionnaire.

This seems like a step in the right direction, but also still seems subjective.

[1] Yes, I know severe depression looks a lot worse than someone who just "feels bad", but if someone is spending hours/days in the fetal position crying, that's kind of a hint. Thinking of detecting depression before it gets that bad.