Spatial neglect is a common and severe cognitive consequence of stroke, yet there is currently no effective rehabilitation tool. Virtual Reality (VR) telerehabilitation tools have the potential to provide multisensory and enjoyable neuropsychological therapies and remotely monitor adherence without the presence of a therapist at all times.Researchers and industry need to better understand end-user perspectives about these technologies to ensure these are acceptable and user-friendly and, ultimately, optimize adherence and efficacy. Therefore, this study aims to explore end-user perspectives on the use of self-administered VR for spatial neglect in a university environment to identify barriers and facilitators prior to extending its use remotely or within the home as a VR telerehabilitation tool. We used a mixed-method design including focus groups, self-administered questionnaires and individual interviews with stroke survivors (N = 7), their carers (N = 3) and stroke clinicians (N = 6). End-user perspectives identified clarity of instructions, equipment (cost, available resources) and for some, level of experience with technology as barriers of use. Perceived facilitators of use were performance feedback, engagement and enjoyment, and psychological benefits associated by self-administered VR telerehabilitation. Overall, end-users were positive and interested in using VR telerehabilitation for spatial neglect. These perspectives enabled us to produce practical recommendations to inform development, enhance engagement and uptake of self-administered VR telerehabilitation and inform feasibility and usability studies.

In this study, we investigated the effect of intergroup contact on processing of own-and other-race faces using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Previous studies have shown a neural ownrace effect with greater BOLD response to own race compared to other race faces. In our study, white participants completed a social-categorization task and an individuation task while viewing the faces of both black and white strangers after having answered questions about their previous experiences with black people. We found that positive contact modulated BOLD activity in the right fusiform gyrus (rFG) and left inferior occipital gyrus (lioc), regions associated with face processing. Within these regions, higher positive contact was associated with higher activity when processing black, compared to white faces during the social categorisation task. We also found that in both regions a greater amount of individuating experience with black people was associated with greater activation for black vs. white faces in the individuation task. Quantity of contact, implicit racial bias and negatively valenced contact showed no effects. Our findings suggest that positive contact and individuating experience directly modulate processing of out-group faces in the visual cortex, and illustrate that contact quality rather than mere familiarity is an important factor in reducing the own race face effect.

Spatial neglect is a common and severe cognitive consequence of stroke, yet there is currently no effective rehabilitation tool. Virtual Reality (VR) telerehabilitation tools have the potential to provide multisensory and enjoyable neuropsychological therapies and remotely monitor adherence without the presence of a therapist at all times. Researchers and industry need to better understand end-user perspectives about these technologies to ensure these are acceptable and user-friendly and, ultimately, optimize adherence and efficacy. Therefore, this study aims to explore end-user perspectives on the use of self-administered VR telerehabilitation for spatial neglect to identify barriers and facilitators of use. We used a mixed-method design including focus groups, self-administered questionnaires and individual interviews with stroke survivors (N = 7), their carers (N = 3) and stroke clinicians (N = 6). End-user perspectives identified clarity of instructions, equipment (cost, available resources) and for some, level of experience with technology as barriers of use. Perceived facilitators of use were performance feedback, engagement and enjoyment, and psychological benefits associated by self-administered VR telerehabilitation. Overall, end-users were positive and interested in using VR telerehabilitation for spatial neglect. These perspectives enabled us to produce practical recommendations to inform development, enhance engagement and uptake of self-administered VR telerehabilitation and inform feasibility and usability studies.

Assessment of cognitive impairments is a vital part of clinical practise. Cancellation (visual search) and line bisection are commonly used tasks to assess visuospatial attention. Despite the fact visuospatial attention is engaged in both near (within reach) and far-space (out of reach), most studies have been conducted in near-space alone. Moreover, despite their use in clinical practice, it is unclear whether cancellation and bisection tasks are related. Here, we investigated the impact of aging on cancellation and line bisection performance in far-space in a large healthy sample. We provide age-related norms for assessing visuospatial attention in far-space calculated from a sample of 179 healthy adults, between the ages of 18-94 (mean age = 49.29). Cancellation and bisection were presented on a large television screen in far-space and completed using a wireless remote. Aging was accompanied by longer task duration for both tasks, slower search speed, and poorer quality of search. However, there was no significant effect of aging on line bisection error. There was a significant correlation between the two tasks in that longer task duration in line bisection was associated with slower search speed and poorer quality of search. Overall, participants presented a leftward bias during cancellation and line bisection akin to pseudo-neglect. Moreover, we also found that irrespective of age, search speed was faster in males than females. We offer novel evidence that performance on cancellation and line bisection tasks are related to one another in far-space, but are also sensitive to age-related decline, and even sex differences.

No abstract