Understanding Alzheimer's disease and its broader impact
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects memory, thinking, perception, and behavior. It is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for the majority of dementia diagnoses worldwide. While early symptoms often involve short-term memory loss, the disease gradually impacts spatial awareness, attention, sensory processing, and the ability to interpret visual and environmental cues.
These perceptual changes are particularly important to understand. People living with Alzheimer's may experience difficulties judging distance, recognizing familiar objects or faces, interpreting contrast, or navigating complex environments. Visual distortion, disorientation, and altered perception can emerge even when the eyes themselves are healthy, because the underlying changes occur in the brain's processing of sensory information rather than in the visual system alone.
Today, Alzheimer's affects tens of millions of people globally1, with numbers expected to rise significantly as populations age. Its impact extends far beyond those diagnosed. Families, caregivers, clinicians, and healthcare systems all carry long-term emotional, physical, and economic burdens. Despite decades of research, there is still no cure, and many aspects of how the disease alters perception and daily experience remain active areas of study.
Because Alzheimer's symptoms evolve over time and vary widely between individuals, research benefits from tools that can explore these changes dynamically. Simulations and interactive models can help researchers test hypotheses about perception, environment design, and assistive strategies in ways that static descriptions or isolated measurements cannot fully capture.
Simulating visual distortion in Alzheimer's research
Our work fits into this space by providing real-time tools that help researchers explore how perceptual changes may manifest in everyday visual experience. Our post process materials have been used in academic research and referenced in a doctoral dissertation by Dr. William K., where they support the simulation of visual distortion effects associated with Alzheimer's disease.
A key focus of this research is Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), a form of Alzheimer's in which degeneration occurs primarily in the regions of the brain responsible for visual processing. Individuals with PCA may struggle to interpret visual inputs despite having otherwise healthy eyes. This can lead to difficulty recognizing faces, objects, and colors, impaired spatial awareness, and in some cases, the perception of visual elements that are not actually present.
Post process materials are particularly well suited to exploring these effects because they operate at the final stage of rendering. Rather than altering the physical structure of a scene, distortion can be applied directly to the visual output, allowing researchers to simulate how perception itself may be altered. The same environment can be experienced under multiple perceptual conditions simply by adjusting parameters, making it easier to isolate the role of distortion in recognition, navigation, and task performance.
In the context of dissertation research, this approach supports both experimentation and communication. Real-time distortion makes it possible to test hypotheses quickly while also producing clear, experiential demonstrations that help convey complex perceptual changes to supervisors, clinicians, and family members. Our role is not to define clinical models, but to provide flexible tools that make these perceptual phenomena easier to study, visualize, and explain.
Research, simulation, and personal motivation
Research into Alzheimer's is not only a scientific challenge but also a deeply human one. Many researchers, developers, and educators working in this space have personal connections to the disease. In our case, we have seen its effects firsthand through people close to us, which reinforces the importance of supporting research that improves understanding, care, and quality of life.
By contributing tools that enable new forms of simulation and experimentation, we aim to support researchers exploring how perceptual changes influence daily experience, safety, and independence. Just as importantly, these tools can help communicate those experiences more clearly to caregivers, clinicians, and the wider public.
Supporting Alzheimer's research
Progress in Alzheimer's research depends on sustained funding, collaboration, and public awareness. If you would like to support this work, we encourage donating to established Alzheimer's research and advocacy organizations, which fund scientific studies, caregiver resources, and education initiatives worldwide.
We've been in close contact with the Alzheimer's Society and have their permission to share their website: Alzheimer's Society, where you're welcome to make a contribution if you wish. Alternatively, you may choose to find and support an organisation that's meaningful to you or a loved one.
Advances in understanding perception, cognition, and lived experience are essential to developing better interventions and support systems. Research, technology, and personal commitment all play a role in moving this work forward.
References
- Breijyeh Z, Karaman R (December 2020). "Alzheimer's disease cases worldwide are reported to be around 24 million, and in 2050, the total number of people with dementia is estimated to increase 4 times." Comprehensive Review on Alzheimer's Disease: Causes and Treatment