Paper

From the Positive Technology Journal website: "The sensitivity of a virtual reality task to planning and prospective memory impairments: Group differences and the efficacy of periodic alerts on performance."

Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2009 Aug 26;:1-25

"Executive functions have been argued to be the most vulnerable to brain injury. In providing an analogue of everyday situations amenable to control and management virtual reality (VR) may offer better insights into planning deficits consequent upon brain injury.

J Psychoactive Drugs. 2009 Jun;41(2):105-12

Authors: Bordnick PS, Copp HL, Traylor A, Graap KM, Carter BL, Walton A, Ferrer M

Virtual reality (VR) cue environments have been developed and successfully tested in nicotine, cocaine, and alcohol abusers. Aims in the current article include the development and testing of a novel VR cannabis cue reactivity assessment system. It was hypothesized that subjective craving levels and attention to cannabis cues would be higher in VR environments with cannabis cues compared to VR neutral environments.

"A First Implementation of an Advanced 3D Interface to Control and Supervise UAV (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles) Missions"

Francesca De Crescenzio, Giovanni Miranda*, Franco Persiani, Tiziano Bombardi

Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, June 2009, Vol. 18, No. 3, Pages 171-184.

From Positive Technology Journal : "Testing the effects of educational strategies on comprehension of a genomic concept using virtual reality" Patient Educ Couns. 2009 Apr 29; Authors: Kaphingst KA, Persky S, McCall C, Lachance C, Loewenstein J, Beall AC, Blascovich J

OBJECTIVE: Applying genetic susceptibility information to improve health will likely require educating patients about abstract concepts, for which there is little existing research. This experimental study examined the effect of learning mode on comprehension of a genomic concept.

From Positive Technology Journal: "Virtual reality in acquired brain injury upper limb rehabilitation: evidence-based evaluation of clinical research.

Brain Inj 2009 Mar; 23(3):179-91.

Authors: Mumford N, Wilson PH

This Behavioral and brain functions article describes a study about modulating presence and impulsive behavior by external stimulation of the brain. From the article: ""The feeling of being there" is one possible way to describe the phenomenon of feeling present in a virtual environment and to act as if this environment is real. One brain area, which is hypothesized to be critically involved in modulating this feeling (also called presence) is the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), an area also associated with the control of impulsive behavior.

This research project's objective is to explore the use of the Wii Balance BoardTM as a low-cost input device in virtual reality (VR). A video is also available. From the project abstract: "In this work we explore the use of the Wii Balance BoardTM as a low-cost input device in virtual reality (VR). We combined and extended existing communication libraries such that the balance board's four separate pressure sensors can be used as input to a VR application. We provide a brief technical overview of obtaining and working with the sensor input. By processing the sudden and gradual changes in the sensor input values caused by pressing on the board, we are able to use the balance board for both discrete and continuous input.

This ZDNet Emerging Tech article takes a look at a technical paper (pdf) which covers more than 50 years of history of bilateral teleoperation. From the article: "In case you’re not familiar with the concept of bilateral teleoperation, this is just a way to remotely control robots. Two researchers have written a technical paper which covers more than 50 years of history of bilateral teleoperation. This paper has just received the ‘Automatica Best Paper’ in the survey/tutorial category. The award will be given at the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Triennial World Congress held in Seoul, South Korea (July 6-11, 2008). But read more…

From Positive Technology Journal:
"Virtual reality exposure therapy using a virtual Iraq: Case report."
J Trauma Stress. 2008 Apr 10;21(2):209-213
Authors: Gerardi M, Rothbaum BO, Ressler K, Heekin M, Rizzo A

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been estimated to affect up to 18% of returning Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans. Soldiers need to maintain constant vigilance to deal with unpredictable threats, and an unprecedented number of soldiers are surviving serious wounds. These risk factors are significant for development of PTSD; therefore, early and efficient intervention options must be identified and presented in a form acceptable to military personnel. This case report presents the results of treatment utilizing virtual reality exposure (VRE) therapy (virtual Iraq) to treat an OIF veteran with PTSD. Following brief VRE treatment, the veteran demonstrated improvement in PTSD symptoms as indicated by clinically and statistically significant changes in scores on the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS; Blake et al., 1990) and the PTSD Symptom Scale Self-Report (PSS-SR; Foa, Riggs, Dancu, & Rothbaum, 1993). These results indicate preliminary promise for this treatment."

From Positive Technology Journal:
"Virtual reality and paranoid ideations in people with an 'at-risk mental state' for psychosis."
Br J Psychiatry Suppl. 2007 Dec;51:s63-8
Authors: Valmaggia LR, Freeman D, Green C, Garety P, Swapp D, Antley A, Prescott C, Fowler D, Kuipers E, Bebbington P, Slater M, Broome M, McGuire PK

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality provides a means of studying paranoid thinking in controlled laboratory conditions. However, this method has not been used with a clinical group. AIMS: To establish the feasibility and safety of using virtual reality methodology in people with an at-risk mental state and to investigate the applicability of a cognitive model of paranoia to this group. METHOD: Twenty-one participants with an at-risk mental state were assessed before and after entering a virtual reality environment depicting the inside of an underground train. RESULTS: Virtual reality did not raise levels of distress at the time of testing or cause adverse experiences over the subsequent week. Individuals attributed mental states to virtual reality characters including hostile intent. Persecutory ideation in virtual reality was predicted by higher levels of trait paranoia, anxiety, stress, immersion in virtual reality, perseveration and interpersonal sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual reality is an acceptable experimental technique for use with individuals with at-risk mental states. Paranoia in virtual reality was understandable in terms of the cognitive model of persecutory delusions.