Virtual reality in neuroscience research and therapy

Bohil, Corey J.; Alicea, Bradly; Biocca, Frank

doi:10.1038/nrn3122

Cited by 842 publications

(655 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…In a somewhat related effort, another paper has examined the use of fMRI to assess changes in brain activation following a course of VRET and PE (Roy et al, 2014). This falls in line with a view held by some neuroscientists (Bohil et al, 2011; Tarr & Warren, 2002) that highly controllable VR-generated content may add value as stimuli in brain imaging studies. For a detailed summary of the VR assessment research, see Rizzo et al (2017).…”

Section: Beyond Vret: Vr For the Assessment And Prevention Of Ptsdsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…In essence, VR environments mimicking real or imagined worlds can be applied to engage users in simulations that support the aims and mechanics of a specific clinical assessment or therapeutic approach. As a result, there is a growing consensus that VR has now emerged as a promising tool in many domains of research (Bohil, Alicea, & Biocca, 2011) and clinical care (Norcross, Pfund, & Prochaska, 2013). Based on the parallel advances in research and technology, VR has now emerged as a promising tool in many domains of clinical care and research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clinical Virtual Reality tools to advance the prevention, assessment, and treatment of PTSD

Rizzo

Shilling

2017

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

142

107

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Numerous reports indicate that the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) military personnel has created a significant behavioural healthcare challenge. These findings have served to motivate research on how to better develop and disseminate evidence-based treatments for PTSD. The current article presents the use of Virtual Reality (VR) as a clinical tool to address the assessment, prevention, and treatment of PTSD, based on the VR projects that were evolved at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies since 2004. A brief discussion of the definition and rationale for the clinical use of VR is followed by a description of a VR application designed for the delivery of prolonged exposure (PE) for treating Service Members (SMs) and Veterans with combat- and sexual assault-related PTSD. The expansion of the virtual treatment simulations of Iraq and Afghanistan for PTSD assessment and prevention is then presented. This is followed by a forward-looking discussion that details early efforts to develop virtual human agent systems that serve the role of virtual patients for training the next generation of clinical providers, as healthcare guides that can be used to support anonymous access to trauma-relevant behavioural healthcare information, and as clinical interviewers capable of automated behaviour analysis of users to infer psychological state. The paper will conclude with a discussion of VR as a tool for breaking down barriers to care in addition to its direct application in assessment and intervention.

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Section: Beyond Vret: Vr For the Assessment And Prevention Of Ptsdsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Virtual Reality tools to advance the prevention, assessment, and treatment of PTSD

Rizzo

Shilling

2017

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

142

107

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“…These data provide novel insights into the brain mechanisms of body ownership and related aspects of bodily self-consciousness, and highlight the potential of combining high-resolution EEG with virtual reality setups and automatized stimulation protocols for systematic, reproducible stimulus presentation in neuroscience (i.e. Bohil et al, 2011;Lenggenhager et al, 2011;Slater et al, 2008). Mu-band activity in highly similar regions was also modulated during hand motor imagery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Shared electrophysiology mechanisms of body ownership and motor imagery

Evans

Blanke

2013

NeuroImage

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Although we feel, see, and experience our hands as our own (body or hand ownership), recent research has shown that illusory hand ownership can be induced for fake or virtual hands and may be useful for neuroprosthetics and brain-computer interfaces. Despite the vast amount of behavioral data on illusory hand ownership, neuroimaging studies are rare, in particular electrophysiological studies. Thus, while the neural systems underlying hand ownership are relatively well described, the spectral signatures of body ownership as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) remain elusive. Here we induced illusory hand ownership in an automated, computer-controlled manner using virtual reality while recording 64-channel EEG and found that illusory hand ownership is reflected by a body-specific modulation in the mu-band over fronto-parietal cortex. In a second experiment in the same subjects, we then show that mu as well as beta-band activity in highly similar fronto-parietal regions was also modulated during a motor imagery task often used in paradigms employing non-invasive brain-computer interface technology. These data provide insights into the electrophysiological brain mechanisms of illusory hand ownership and their strongly overlapping mechanisms with motor imagery in fronto-parietal cortex. They also highlight the potential of combining high-resolution EEG with virtual reality setups and automatized stimulation protocols for systematic, reproducible stimulus presentation in cognitive neuroscience, and may inform the design of non-invasive brain-computer interfaces.

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“…VR is already widely used in studies of spatial cognition (Pine et al ., 2002) and motor control (Patton, Dawe, Scharver, Mussa‐Ivaldi, & Kenyon, 2006) and these have been reviewed elsewhere (Bohil, Alicea, & Biocca, 2011). We also focus primarily on creating VR for the purpose of psychology experiments (rather than therapy or education; Rose, Brooks, & Rizzo, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why and how to use virtual reality to study human social interaction: The challenges of exploring a new research landscape

Pan

Hamilton²

2018

British J of Psychology

518

346

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As virtual reality (VR) technology and systems become more commercially available and accessible, more and more psychologists are starting to integrate VR as part of their methods. This approach offers major advantages in experimental control, reproducibility, and ecological validity, but also has limitations and hidden pitfalls which may distract the novice user. This study aimed to guide the psychologist into the novel world of VR, reviewing available instrumentation and mapping the landscape of possible systems. We use examples of state‐of‐the‐art research to describe challenges which research is now solving, including embodiment, uncanny valley, simulation sickness, presence, ethics, and experimental design. Finally, we propose that the biggest challenge for the field would be to build a fully interactive virtual human who can pass a VR Turing test – and that this could only be achieved if psychologists, VR technologists, and AI researchers work together.

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Virtual reality in neuroscience research and therapy

Cited by 842 publications

References 101 publications

Clinical Virtual Reality tools to advance the prevention, assessment, and treatment of PTSD

Clinical Virtual Reality tools to advance the prevention, assessment, and treatment of PTSD

Shared electrophysiology mechanisms of body ownership and motor imagery

Why and how to use virtual reality to study human social interaction: The challenges of exploring a new research landscape

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