How SPARK’s Fractal Analyses Revolutionize Dementia Detection

In 2023 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, Yoder et al. presented our ground-breaking work on a novel EEG analysis method developed by SPARK called “Fractal Dimension Distributions.” This innovation changes what’s possible in dementia evaluation by extracting new information from brain signals that leads major improvements in model accuracy and clinical utility.

The Math and Magic of Fractals

Fractals are a type of complex mathematics based in geometry and topology, and they deal with patterns of self-similarity, or the recursive repetition of a pattern at different scales. Fractal analysis is used in various fields where complex mathematics are required, such as telecommunications, the material sciences, and even predicting and analyzing earthquakes.

Fractal analysis as applied to neuroscience is a very new and exciting field, and here at SPARK it’s one of the key technologies we use to make sense of the brain. Fractals allow us to capture how information complexity changes over time and place as it is communicated through neural pathways, which can tell us a lot about cognitive health.

Taking Fractals Into The Future

Here at SPARK, our team of scientists have taken the technology of fractal analysis to a new dimension, introducing innovations that greatly improve the power and utility of fractals for clinical neuroscience. In particular, SPARK’s methods extend fractal analysis to account for how changes in the fractal-nature of a biosignal are distributed over time.

Using these patent-pending innovations, Yoder et al. demonstrate that Fractal Dimension Distributions (FDD) significantly improve our ability to accurately detect and differentiate dementia. FDD extracts information from the brain signal that was undetectable before, allowing us to see differences in cognitive health in much greater detail than was previously possible.

Thanks to this scientific advancement, SPARK Neuro’s technology can detect dementia and distinguish it’s cause with much greater accuracy than ever before.

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