Patrick Hankey, sales director, VivoMetrics, says the study found "different types of subjects interacted with the objects in very distinctive ways."

The subjects with bipolar disorder interacted with all the objects and moved around the room rapidly, while subjects who had schizophrenia were found to interact much less.

Perry and his colleagues say by studying the brain's screening or filtering mechanisms in manic patients before and after they are treated with medication, they will be able to compare their results to tests done on rodents. Researchers believe mice can be used to discover new and improved drugs by observing how their movement pattern is altered after taking medication. The collective findings might also offer insight into the chemical imbalances and genetic abnormalities that appear to contribute to bipolar disorder.

Hankey says LifeShirt was the enabling technology for this experiment because it replicated what had previously only been done with rodents.

Alex Derchak, principal scientist, VivoMetrics, says although the subject's movements are continuously being monitored, it is not in real-time. He says the company is planning to extend to remote monitoring and that real-time capabilities are in the works.