Psychology & Technology

Center on Media and Child Health

2009-07-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

In college, I learned about the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston. Director Dr. Michael Rich worked as a Hollywood filmmaker before becoming a pediatrician and Harvard Medical School professor, and he brings his industry expertise to the field of medicine in innovative ways. He pioneered an intervention technique that allows children with chronic illnesses to create video narratives about their lives. The Video Intervention/Prevention project aims to help others, such as clinicians, understand the daily realities patients face. It also helps ease the transition between pediatric and adult care for kids with diseases such as cystic fibrosis and spina bifida. Check out their website for more information on their different projects!

CMCH, Children's Hospital Boston

Robotic Playmates for Children with Autism

2009-02-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

AHN has an interesting article discussing the potential use of therapeutic robots for children with autism. Robots could prove to be an economically sound solution to addressing the needs of people with autism. Though initial research demonstrates that robots can be engaging to children with autism, it remains to be seen how robotic therapy will be generalized to interactions with other human beings.

Hiatus

2009-01-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

This blog is on temporary hiatus for a bit as I prepare for the MCAT. However, the world of virtual reality and therapy continues to hurtle forward with exciting new applications, and I would like to direct you to a few reports:

At the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, post-stroke patients manipulated a robot in virtual environments as part of rehabilitative physical therapy. The virtual reality group walked farther and faster than a group that only used the robot. Read more here.

GestureTek, a company whose innovations have been utilized for previous virtual reality therapeutic applications, was on display this past weekend at the Consumer Electronics Show. Read more about their new 3-D depth tracking system here.

Virtual Reality Treadmills

2008-08-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

One of the major rehabilitation challenges for older stroke victims is re-learning how to walk. A new system, designed by a former chiropractor and current University of Portsmouth Ph.D. student Wendy Powell, aims to change that with an innovative virtual reality system, used in conjunction with a treadmill.

As patients walk on a standard treadmill, moving images projected onto a screen in front of them attempt to trick their brains into thinking that they are walking at a slower rate than they are actually walking. This reduces fear of falling and gradually encourages them to walk faster, increasing endurance and speed. The system is expected to enhance speed, endurance, and strength among stroke victims. Clinical trials are being conducted with a research team from Canada's McGill University.

University of Portsmouth Front Page News

Ditto!

2008-08-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

Researchers from Australia have designed a new tool in the quest to bring pain relief to burn victims. The project, lead by Dr. Sam Bucolo, involves a hand-held circular device which engages children as they get their burn dressings changed. Previous work for burn victims has involved goggles, headsets, or other types of immersive virtual reality settings, but this device, Ditto, is designed specifically for small children, aged three to eight. Preliminary data indicate that Ditto can engage children in less than a minute and keep them preoccupied throughout a full bandage replacement, which typically takes around 20 minutes. The results also show that Ditto had more success reducing pain scores during treatment as opposed to traditional distraction tools, such as videos or computer games. Clinical trials are underway, and Ditto is expected to be released for commercial use within the year.

ScienceAlert Article

Virtual Reality Loses A Hero

2008-07-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

Dr. Randy Pausch, a talented, generous, and inspiring researcher and educator, passed away on Friday, July 25. The field lost a true hero whose contributions to virtual reality will live on in his imaginative projects, including computer programming teaching tool ALICE. You can read my tribute to him here.

More Information:
PC World
Wall Street Journal (written by Jeffrey Zaslow, co-author of "The Last Lecture," the novel form of Dr. Pausch's lecture)

VR + Students with Special Needs

2008-07-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

The journal Topics in Language Disorders has a review by Sue Cobb of projects that utilize virtual reality to teach students with special needs. One of the most promising aspects of VR education is its capacity to teach skills that can be transferred to real-world situations. In the late 90s, researchers from the University of Nottingham and VIRART (Brown, Kerr, and Wilson, 1997) designed and tested virtual ski, driving, home, and supermarket environments. Since then, a variety of others have followed suit, examining the impact of virtual reality settings on everything from social skills to language learning to daily life skills. Cobb summarizes the results; while many studies found that students learned within the setting, and others found evidence that the skills were transferred, the studies have not followed students or interventions for long enough time periods to fully conceive the generalization ability of such programs. The article is a terrific summary of the progress that has been made thus far as well as future areas to examine more.

Cobb, Sue V.G. Topics in Language Disorders. Virtual Reality: Exploring New Dimensions for Conversation, Language, and Learning. 27(3):211-225, July/September 2007.

VR in the News

2008-07-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

This summer has been full of exciting new developments and reports from the intersection of virtual reality and therapy.

Stuff.co.nz has an article following the rehabilitation of three patients at a Ryde, Australia hospital. It provides examples of how the Nintendo Wii offers an engaging and challenging platform for physical and emotional progress after debilitating injuries or illnesses. One of the patients, trained as a physiotherapist, designed a glove that allows less mobile people to access the handheld Wii remote.

VR and Burn Wounds: Hydrotank Research

2008-05-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

Researchers from University of Washington's HITLab have published a new study on virtual reality pain control during the removal of burnt tissue in The Clinical Journal of Pain. In burn treatment, patients often experience extreme pain during the earliest treatment sessions, which are often held in hydrotherapy tanks. Although medications are used to reduce pain, analgesics are not always effective and can lead to other side effects. Based on a model in which attention is a requirement for pain, the VR treatment used in this study attempts to distract users with images and sounds that are engaging and positive.

In this experiment, 11 patients (ranging in age from 9 to 40 years of age) were studied during the painful bandage removal and wound cleansing sessions. For part of the treatment, they received no distraction and were asked to report the worst pain they felt, the amount of time they spent thinking about pain, and the unpleasantness of their experience. Two additional ratings that measured 'fun' and 'presence' in the virtual world were also administered. In another part of the treatment, the patients were immersed in a world filled with icy, cool images called SnowWorld. During this phase, the participants were given the same ratings scales as in the other phase. However, treatment sequence was randomized, so some patients received the control treatment first, then the VR treatment; others received it in the opposite order.

The study demonstrated that in the VR condition, participants spent less time thinking about the pain and experienced lower pain intensity and less unpleasantness. The virtual reality condition was rated, unsurprisingly, as more 'fun' than the control condition, which involved no distraction. Interestingly, patients with higher presence ratings - the extent to which they became cognitively involved in the virtual environment - experienced less pain. Pain was reduced from 'severe' to 'moderate' on average, but in the group of the six most engaged participants, ratings dropped from 'severe' to 'mild.'

The study authors point out one possible bias of the study: the nurses providing care knew which treatment the patients were receiving, control or VR, because of the headset. Therefore, there is a chance they could have unknowingly treated the VR patients more gently throughout the treatment.

However, this is the first controlled multi-subject study to demonstrate that virtual reality allows pain reduction for patients undergoing treatment within the hydrotank, which is extremely promising news for burn care. Past pain-reducing options have failed to prove sustainable for many patients undergoing wound treatments, and virtual reality could offer new hope for this group.

Hoffman, H. (2008). Virtual Reality Pain Control During Burn Wound Debridement in the Hydrotank. Clinical Journal of Pain, 24(4), 299.

Case Study on VR Treatment for PTSD

2008-04-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Researchers at Emory University published an article on virtual reality exposure therapy for Iraq war veterans with PTSD in the most recent issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress (view abstract here). Due to the extreme number of soldiers who experience events that put them at an increased risk for PTSD (92% of soldiers and Marines who served in Iraq report being attacked or ambushed; 70% report having seen dead or seriously wounded Americans) clinicians are trying to develop new technology to meet the mental health needs of returning veterans.

In this case study, a 29-year-old male veteran underwent four exposure therapy sessions using a VR headset system. The veteran is a combat engineer who served one year in Iraq and met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. He reported having trouble focusing at work, driving, and sleeping. He also experienced hypervigilance - constantly being on alert - as well as mood swings and irritability.

The rationale behind exposure therapy (VR and non-VR) is based on Foa and Kozek's model of emotional processing, which posits that in order to overcome a fear, it must be activated and one must learn how to get used to it without an emotional response. Eventually, the fear can be extinguished as the patient learns to remember the traumatic incident in a non-threatening way.

During the four exposure therapy sessions, the therapist paired traditional therapeutic techniques such as breathing and treatment information with exposure in the VR environment. The system allowed the therapist to manipulate different variables that included visual, auditory, and olfactory components. As the sessions went on, the therapist increased the intensity of the stimuli to add stress. The patient completed pre-therapy and post-therapy assessments.

Although the sessions had increasing intensity, the patient's ratings on a PTSD symptoms inventory decreased as the sessions continued. By the end of the treatment, the subject's overall ratings had decreased by 56%. He initially fit the definition of "extreme" symptoms, but by the end of treatment, fell into the "mild/moderate" range of PTSD. The patient reported that he could concentrate more at work, had improved communication with his wife, and socialized more often. While this is an extremely new therapy with little empirical data, this study offers a promising vision for virtual reality researchers as well as a technical system and protocol for therapy.

Gerardi, M., Rothbaum, B.O., Ressler, K., Heekin, M., Rizzo, A. (2008). Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy Using a Virtual Iraq: Case Report. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 21, 209-213.

Virtual Reality News April 2008

2008-04-13T03:42:00.000-07:00

Hunter Hoffman and David Patterson's SnowWorld, which I've written about before, is currently being used at Loyola University Hospital in Maywood, IL for burn victims. More than just a distracting media presentation, SnowWorld is an immersive VR video game that relies on the user to complete problem-solving tasks in the game, reducing their pain levels as evidenced by self-reports and MRI scans

In stroke rehabilitation, researchers in Israel are using VR to enhance both diagnosis and therapeutic treatment selection for patients. Currently, the team of computer scientists and health professionals have designed a system that can differentiate between types of injuries - traumatic brain injuries vs. cerebrovascular accidents. Next, they will program the computers to generate models of patient recovery in order to select the best treatment for each specific patient. While diagnosis is an area that doctors can already do without the help of technology, projecting treatment outcomes with consistent accuracy is not something doctors can currently do with high consistency and accuracy. The VR is also used in patient therapy to demonstrate healthy movements of limbs without physical movement. The patient sees their limbs on a screen performing movements without pain, which can activate mirror neurons, which are frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing a task or seeing it performed. By seeing a natural movement, not experiencing pain, and having the typical motion pathway activated in your brain, pain is reduced and the patient's motility increased.

London researchers recently used a VR headset to study paranoia in the general population, as subjects were transported via a virtual London Underground on a 4-minute ride. About 1 in 3 participants experienced paranoid thoughts about one or more of the neutral passengers populating the subway. People who experienced day-to-day thoughts of paranoia were more likely to experience it in the virtual underground. The next steps are to design a protocol that allows diagnosis and therapeutic sessions utilizing the technology. Read more here.

Citation:

Freeman D, Pugh K, Antley A, Slater M, Bebbington P, Gittins M, Dunn G, Kuipers E, Fowler D and Garety P (2008) Virtual reality study of paranoid thinking in the general population.
British Journal of Psychiatry, 192, 258-263.

VR Grocery Shopping

2008-02-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

Today, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh will present a poster on the correlation they found between conventional clinical measures of balance and measures of balance while subjects were immersed in a virtual grocery store environment. They will present their ideas on how VR environments can be used for therapeutic purposes for people with balance disorders. Specifically, a grocery store was chosen because of the need to simultaneously walk through different aisles while looking at various height levels of products.

Read the full abstract at NIH NIDCD Abstracts

Videos of PTSD Exposure Therapy

2008-02-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

The Health Blog recently posted a thorough and clear explanation of how PTSD exposure therapy works, complete with video!

It also brings up an important problem that needs to be addressed before VR therapy becomes more prevalent. The article focuses on war veterans, and the studies have a high dropout rate exists because the realistic therapy is so difficult to endure. Maybe this is why (coupled with the fact it's relatively new) it's so hard to find hard numbers on VR. If you know of any, as always, please shoot me an e-mail or comment. Thanks!

Alzheimer's Study

2008-02-10T10:52:00.000-08:00

An exciting article on the potential of DBS (deep brain stimulation) for Alzheimer's. This surgical implant procedure has traditionally been used to help Parkinson's patients regain some control and steadiness, but an accidental finding will spur new research on utilizing DBS to restore memories and brain function. It's early for sure, but it provides hope for an eventual treatment and/or cure for Alzheimer's.

More on Wii-hab

2008-01-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

Please excuse that terrible pun, but here's another terrific article on the use of Nintendo Wii in rehabilitation, specifically for stroke victims. This study is headed by the Afferent Corporation, which develops devices that treat neurological dysfunction. A representative from the company, Bethany Therrien, states that playing the Wii stimulates a greater flow of sensory information to the brain, allowing the patient to reform old functional pathways.

VR Environments for Autistic People & Drug Addicts

2008-01-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

I just learned about research at Duke University by Dr. Zachary Rosenthal that focuses on helping crack addicts effectively complete rehab. The Cognitive Behavioral Research and Treatment Program at Duke is the first instance I've heard in which virtual environments are used to simulate real-life scenarios specifically for drug users. The website states that randomized clinical trials are under way; it will be interesting to see the preliminary results.

MSN has a great profile of Brigadoon, a virtual island in Second Life that allows people with Asperger's to hone communication and socialization skills. At the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas at Dallas, therapists are pushing the virtual environment one step farther and actually integrating them into therapy. The Chronicle of Higher Education ran an article (subscription required) applications of virtual reality for autistic people that quotes Dr. Rosenthal as well as the Director of the Center for Brain Health, Dr. Sandra Chapman. Since one hallmark of Asperger's is an inability to read facial expressions or detect nonverbal context clues, therapists work with patients to role play and analyze social situations. With the therapist's help, the patient can gain insight into how they handled specific situations and discuss appropriate actions and reactions.

Chapman asserts that the premise of such therapeutic interventions is that the brain can rewire pathways with intensive, experience-based practice. Virtual worlds offer a safe space for people to gain this invaluable practice, as well as a forum for patient, therapist, family members, and friends to interact. Chapman points out that the early, formative years, as the brain is developing, are a crucial time to help rewire neurological pathways. Center for Brain Health participants undergo a series of testing both pre- and post- treatment, including brain imaging and neurocognitive testing. It's an exciting time for autism research, and I can't wait to see some brain imaging or effect size numbers.

Further Reading:
http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2007/11/18-003.html

Rehab + Wii

2008-01-02T15:55:00.001-08:00

As an undergraduate at Case, I heard anecdotal support for using the Nintendo Wii system to help nursing home patients get much-needed exercise and rehabilitation. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently profiled another Ohio university, OSU, using the Wii system to complement therapy for paralyzed and injured patients. Check out the video here.

Most proponents of Wii-therapy are quick to say that it won't replace traditional therapy, but merely offers additional help for patients. Also, no one has quantified its effects yet; the evidence is merely anecdotal. I'm interested in research that provides a more systematic look at this exciting new research and a plan to integrate it more officially into therapies. Please shoot me an e-mail at elyse.moretti@gmail.com if you have any leads. Thanks!

ALICE & Storytelling ALICE

2007-12-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Just found this great article about Dr. Randy Pausch and his ALICE programs. I've personally been teaching an after-school class featuring Storytelling Alice, a spin-off created especially for middle-schoolers that makes programming simple, engaging, and fun. In the coming months, I plan on sharing screenshots from my students' work with Storytelling Alice, anecdotes, and other experiences. My focus will be on teaching complex skills to populations with special needs, and I'll be developing this as a thesis for my master's program as well.

Gaming for Pain Relief

2007-12-20T03:02:00.000-08:00

Video games are being called "the new pain pill" after a study from Simon Fraser University showed that virtual reality games provided very real relief for chronic pain sufferers. When compared to chronic sufferers on a standard drug treatment, the VR group reported substantially lower pain ratings. This is pretty cool news, especially for gaming enthusiasts or people who firmly believe that technology needs to be more integrated into therapy practices. The next step for Diane Gromala, the SFU professor who headed the study, is to develop a way to help chronic pain sufferers manage their pain systematically and implement such technology into standard practices of healthcare professionals.

Next Generation
WIRED Game Life
Canada.com

Dr. Randy Pausch and the Last Lecture

2007-09-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Innovative virtual reality pioneer Dr. Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University gave a talk on realizing your childhood dreams and enabling others to realize their dreams this past Tuesday night to a packed CMU auditorium. Pausch has terminal pancreatic cancer, and the lecture was his last. Pausch has done tremendous things for virtual reality, computer programming, and education and collaborated with institutions far and wide and groups such as Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts. His ALICE, his program that makes learning to program simple, interactive, and fun, is being used to teach computer programming all over the world. You can read more about his Stage3 Research group, which strives to bring virtual reality to the next level, here.

Below is one of the first parts of his lecture; the complete speech is available in sections on YouTube and from CMU. The talk was powerful; captivating, enlightening, honest, and funny. In the end, Pausch reveals that one of the 'head fakes' of the lecture is that it was for his three children: though they weren't present, they are all under the age of five, and now they will be able to see their father's life lessons throughout their own lives, even if he won't be around to impart them in person. Moving, heartwrenching, and just plain good entertainment: all in a day's work for the co-founder of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center.

Read articles about Dr. Pausch and his Last Lecture in the Wall Street Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You can also read about it at MetaFilter.

VR in Pediatric Physical Therapy

2007-09-04T02:03:00.000-07:00

The Myrtle Beach Sun News reports on the emerging role of virtual reality in pediatric rehabilitation and physical therapy. One particularly popular technology allows the patient to see themselves projected into the virtual world. In this way, children in wheelchairs can visualize themselves doing everything from scoring goals on the soccer pitch to snowboarding down a snowy slope. The article also highlights the work of Pennsyvlania company VTree, Inc. Their actions back up their mission statement of helping to provide affordable technological solutions to physically and developmentally challenged people, such as employing developmentally delayed workers, taking input from parents, therapists, and teachers of students with special needs, and partnering with corporate sponsors to provide quality, yet affordable products to populations with special needs.

VR and Out of Body Experience

2007-08-24T22:59:00.001-07:00

Virtual reality can be used to induce 'out-of-body' experiences, according to Swiss and British scientists. By giving healthy subjects virtual reality goggles and creating virtual representations for them, researchers were able to simulate feelings experienced by many people after traumatic incidents--as if the person's consciousness is outside of the body and watching everything happening to the body from afar. Read more here and view video here.

More Help for Combat Veterans

2007-07-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

The Virtual Reality Medical Center (based in San Diego) and the University of Central Florida are partnering to further develop virtual reality technologies to help veterans of combat. The article states that they've already received a quarter-of-a-million-dollar grant from the Air Force, and will be seeking more grant money to continue their projects.

More on VR + CP

2007-07-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

The idea of using virtual reality as therapy for kids with cerebral palsy isn't new. Psychologists like Dr. Denise Reid of the University of Toronto have been testing VR systems on CP patients since the early 2000s. Read abstracts here and here (subscription required for full articles). Though the sample population was small, increases were found for playfulness, upper-extremity mobility, and self-efficacy.

Helping Kids with CP Balance

2007-07-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

CBS ran a story on VR therapy that allows children with cerebral palsy to move better by visualizing themselves in athletic environments. The system, Irex (made by Gesturetek), projects physical therapy patients onto a green-screen, participating in a variety of physical activities like skiing, soccer, and snowboarding. Each of the games or activities is designed to test a specific part or parts of the body. One group of patients who benefit from this type of therapy are children with cerebral palsy. Using this type of therapy, they can participate in engaging contact sports, which motivates them to complete their exercises, which translates to better balance and coordination.

Walter Reed Gait Laboratory

2007-07-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

At the Walter Reed Gait Laboratory, US military personnel can get help improving their stride as they recover from debilitating amputations. A patient's movements are recorded and tracked as points of light on a LED display.

The patient and rehab team, including physician, prosthetist, and physical therapists, can then use the data from the computer program to determine the best prosthetic fit for the patient. The data can be compared to the gaits of non-amputees or even the patient's own non-amputee side stride.

Content Suggestions

2007-07-02T22:03:00.001-07:00

I tried it before, but I thought I'd try again--do you have an idea for articles for this blog? Shoot me an e-mail at elyse.moretti@gmail.com.

Thanks!

VR for Social Anxiety Disorder

2007-06-28T12:13:00.001-07:00

People with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) may benefit from virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET). Illumenta, a US-based company, hopes to re-condition people who atuomatically associate typical social interactions with fear and anxiety. Illumenta is partnered with Virtually Better, another US company that utilizes VR therapy.

Oklahoma gets VR therapy

2007-06-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

KOTV.com has a piece featuring software developed by another PTSD lab at the University of Southern California, currently being used to help Oklahoma veterans.

Newsweek Video: VR and PTSD

2007-06-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

Newsweek has joined the growing number of media outlets suggesting the benefits of VR in therapy for veterans with PTSD. Check out the article and video here.

Wii Therapy

2007-06-24T21:05:00.001-07:00

Patrick Stumpf of the Appleton Post-Crescent writes about the Nintendo Wii gaming system as a potential therapeutic aid because of the physical actions the system requires.

More VR and Iraq

2007-06-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

VR applications for Iraq War veterans are all over the news this week. Today's TIME Magazine has an article detailing an Emory study that combines the typical VR exposure therapy I've been writing about with d-Cycloserine (DCS), which affects the amygdala. The intent is to decrease fear as the painful memories are evoked. For a paper on how DCS may work in rats, click here. If you are a veteran currently suffering from anxiety related to military service, please visit the Emory University Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program.

On Friday, CNN ran a piece on a lab at the NIH using the popular video game, "Duke Nukem" as a measure in the assessment of clinically depressed patients.

Canada Catches On

2007-06-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

In Canada, government-funded VR treatment for fear of flying is so popular that there is a six-month waiting period to participate. The Cyberpsychology and Anxiety Virtual Lab boasts a 92% success rate for patients with fear of flying.

Improving Quality of Life for MS Patients

2007-05-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Add this to the growing list of virtual reality applications. Patients with multiple sclerosis improved gait and stride both during and after using virtual reality equipment.

Content Suggestions

2007-05-30T15:34:00.001-07:00

Hey all! Thanks for visiting my blog :-) If you have any content suggestions, please let me know in the Comments section.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

2007-05-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

One application for VR is therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Virtual Reality Iraq is based upon the idea that by controlling virtual environments, we can control and decrease the flashbacks and hyper-aroused status that PTSD victims suffer from.

Sensory Learning Program

2007-05-29T11:33:00.001-07:00

On WIRED today, Mark Woodman reports on the status of his son, Caleb, who suffers from sensory processing disorder, after completing the Sensory Learning Program. Caleb's scores on visual integration, motor coordination, and audio & visual perception post-treatment are astonishing. The neurological program has also enhanced his social perceptions and reasoning (Caleb also has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism).

Virtual Police Lineup

2007-05-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle describes a Stanford lab working on a virtual reality replacement of the standard police lineup. By using multidimensional VR images and video, suspect profiles can be manipulated so that witnesses can see them in the context of the crime, how suspects would look in different clothing or with different hairstyles, or from any angle or distance.

Other research topics explored by the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab: diversity simulation, social networking, weight perception, learning in immersive environments, emotion abstraction, and avatar identity.

Virtual Reality and Communication Disorders

2007-05-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Dr. Stacy Williams, one of my undergraduate research mentors, is a professor at Case Western Reserve University and has several exciting new projects underway. One of the most notable is her use of virtual reality in speech-language therapy for dysfluency, or stuttering, disorders. She leads the Virtual Immersion Center for Simulation Research, also known as VICSR, at Case.

One aspect of therapy that speech-language pathologists use to treat stuttering is role play. The therapist may use props or costumes to act out a scenario, then ask the patient to play along and imagine he or she is actually participating in the situation. Dr. Williams explains that one area where traditional role-play falls short is all of the nuances and background distractions present in everyday interactions. For example, one common scenario is ordering food at a restaurant. Though the therapist and patient may act out the script in a role-play, this cannot reproduce all of the people talking in the background, equipment noise, babies crying, etc. Therefore, with VirTra Systems, she has created a virtual CAVE environment for her patients, the first virtual reality theater for speech therapy in the world.

In the CAVE, the speech therapist controls several factors, allowing the therapist to manipulate the environment and make scenarios more or less challenging for the patient (i.e., increasing the intensity of distractions). The therapist also controls characters in the virtual reality setting, selecting from a pre-recorded library of quotes.

Though this research is new and Dr. Williams has not published her findings yet, VICSR is definitely a promising lab to watch as virtual reality and technology make their way to the forefront of modern therapy.

1. VICSR in TIME Magazine
2. VirTra Systems Press Release
3. Case Western Reserve University Press Release

Virtual Reality Therapy for Burn Victims

2007-05-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

The HITLab (Human Interface Technology Lab) at the University of Washington has developed a virtual world free of potential pain triggers for burn victims. Hunter Hoffman 's SnowWorld features an interactive virtual environment that offers distraction for patients as they undergo wound dressings and skin stretching.

The results of patients undergoing wound care are striking. Reported pain while experiencing SnowWorld is dramatically lower than that of patients not using VR. Moreover, in an fMRI study, healthy people volunteered to experience pain stimuli when in an fMRI machine. Some of them also experienced (magnet-friendly) virtual reality during the fMRI. The VR subjects had less pain-related brain activity than the non-VR subjects.

The lab is also working on water-friendly virtual reality gear (as you can see from the photo, they use a head-mounted display), using VR to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (a full post on that later), and VR for Spider Phobia, among various other projects.

Blog Goals

2007-05-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

I've just joined the psychology blogging community, and I wanted to have a place to post my own thoughts on what is hot in psychology research, cutting-edge therapy, and other relevant topics. My primary interest is the intersection of psychology and technology, but this blog will cover a variety of topics. I'd love your feedback, so please shoot me an e-mail if you're so inclined.

I got hooked on psych tech applications as an undergraduate researcher for Dr. Stacy Williams of the VICSR, the Virtual Immersion Center for Simulation Research, at Case Western Reserve University, where I graduated with a B.A. in Psychology (minors in Biology and Chemistry).

Since then, I've been extremely interested in the uses of new technology for clinical interventions. I don't have an advanced or professional degree, and I won't attempt to give out any advice. This blog is all about publicizing new ideas and discussing them openly and critically.

Psychology & Technology

Center on Media and Child Health

Robotic Playmates for Children with Autism

Hiatus

Virtual Reality Treadmills

Ditto!

Virtual Reality Loses A Hero

VR + Students with Special Needs

VR in the News

VR and Burn Wounds: Hydrotank Research

Case Study on VR Treatment for PTSD

Virtual Reality News April 2008

VR Grocery Shopping

Videos of PTSD Exposure Therapy

Alzheimer's Study

More on Wii-hab

VR Environments for Autistic People & Drug Addicts

Rehab + Wii

ALICE & Storytelling ALICE

Gaming for Pain Relief

Dr. Randy Pausch and the Last Lecture

VR in Pediatric Physical Therapy

VR and Out of Body Experience

More Help for Combat Veterans

More on VR + CP

Helping Kids with CP Balance

Walter Reed Gait Laboratory

Content Suggestions

VR for Social Anxiety Disorder

Oklahoma gets VR therapy

Newsweek Video: VR and PTSD

Wii Therapy

More VR and Iraq

Canada Catches On

More Info on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Improving Quality of Life for MS Patients

Content Suggestions

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Sensory Learning Program

Virtual Police Lineup

Virtual Reality and Communication Disorders

Virtual Reality Therapy for Burn Victims

Blog Goals