Virtual Reality News April 2008

• 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.