Resources
Authors & Affiliations
Joseph Barnby, Oliveira Catia, Lei Zhang, Alex Pike
Abstract
Computational modelling is a powerful, theoretically robust tool which allows scientists and clinicians to understand fine-grained changes in cognition from moment to moment. This offers a novel means to measure fluctuations in cognitive constructs relevant to mental health, enabling the design of theoretically precise interventions, a mechanistic understanding of existing interventions, and/or a means to enact cognitive training. However, barriers to entry are high: computational modelling is still a niche skill, and interpretation of model fitting estimates can be opaque without appropriate expertise. Here we propose a new tool, Hypatia | Health, to remove barriers to access for computational modelling and democratise this powerful methodology. Using open-source, intuitive, user-friendly dashboards, Hypatia | Health will allow live simulation and fitting of computational models, with all of the hard coding already implemented. Here we present the beta version of our dashboard with benchmark metrics on performance and give examples of how it works. Our primary goal over 12 months is to produce a freely accessible, browser-based version of the dashboard, informed and guided by professionals with clinical, computational, UX/UI, and lived experience. Our programme will set the foundation for long-term development to have a fully scalable app, suitable for use in every lab, classroom, and clinic, and useful for novel therapeutic development where easily precise computational measurement will address previously inaccessible latent mechanisms.