TAS Test

Detecting dementia risk through movement analysis

TAS Test

Do you know hand movements change in dementia?

Hand movements are known to become slower in dementia and this begins 10-20 years before any memory or thinking symptoms. TAS Test, or “Tasmanian Test”, is a world-first research study to develop an online  test that measures people’s hand movements, speech patterns and cognitive abilities through their own home computer. 

Ultimately, we aim to develop a low-cost screening test to predict who is at higher risk of dementia.  This is the innovative concept behind TAS Test - a new type of computer test that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based “computer vision” to precisely measure hand movements.


Tassie is leading the world!

Since 2021, thousands of ISLAND participants have completed TAS Test every year and their dedication is enabling us to undertake some world-class research. Our TAS Test research has been funded by the competitive Australian government grants of almost $2million and is being published in top medical journals. We are also being approached by researchers and clinicians from around Australia and Europe to use in TAS Test in their own research studies.  In recognition of the innovative research and potential impact of this new test, the TAS Test team were also awarded the University of Tasmania’s Vice-Chancellor Trailblazing Research team award in 2023.

As TAS Test is a movement-based test, it crosses the usual language and cultural barriers of other traditional cognitive tests. As it simply requires a standard computer, it easily crosses geographical barriers too. This means that, in the future, this test developed in Tasmania could reach around the world to transform dementia prevention and management globally for future generations.

THANK YOU to all the TAS Test participants!

Without you, we cannot develop this test. Thank you to more than 2,000 people who have completed TAS Test every year – please continue to repeat TAS Test each year when you receive your invitation. We hope to give individual scores soon and group data at our webinars. 


Want to find out more?

Here is a selection of the papers that have been published on TAS Test so far, using the following links:

TAS Test paper 1- this paper explains how we validated the computer technologies used in TAS Test

TAS Test paper 2 – this explains a computer method to track hand movements 

TAS Test paper 3 – we found that slower hand movements measured by keyboard tapping are associated with subtle declines in memory and executive function 

TAS Test paper 4 – we found that a home webcam can detect changes in finger-tapping movements that associate with subtle declines in cognition, especially when the dominant hand is measured

Team members:  Led by neurologist and researcher Associate Professor Jane Alty, computer scientist Associate Professor Quan Bai and Distinguished Professor James Vickers, the TAS Test team also includes Aidan Bindoff, Dr Eddy Roccati, Professor Anna King, Professor Sharon Naismith (University of Sydney), Dr Kate Lawler, Rebecca St George, Renjie Li. We bring together the expertise of clinicians, neuroscientists, data analysts and an array of researchers from the College of Health and Medicine, College of Science and Engineering as well as national and international collaborators. 

To read more papers you can click here to go to 'Our Publications' and filter articles for TasTest.