Advanced age brings a greater reliance on visual feedback to maintain balance during walking

We implemented a virtual reality system to quantify differences in the use of visual feedback to maintain balance during walking between healthy young (n = 12, mean age: 24 years) and healthy old (n = 11, 71 years) adults. Subjects walked on a treadmill while watching a speed-matched, virtual hallway with and without mediolateral visual perturbations. A motion capture system tracked center of mass (CoM) motion and foot kinematics. Spectral analysis, detrended fluctuation analysis, and local divergence exponents quantified old and young adults’ dynamic response to visual perturbations. Old and young adults walked normally with comparable CoM spectral characteristics, lateral step placement temporal persistence, and local divergence exponents. Perturbed visual flow induced significantly larger changes in mediolateral CoM motion in old vs. young adults. Moreover, visual perturbations disrupted the control of lateral step placement and compromised local dynamic stability more significantly in old than young adults. Advanced age induces a greater reliance on visual feedback to maintain balance during waking, an effect that may compensate for degradations in somatosensation. Our findings are relevant to the early diagnosis of sensory-induced balance impairments and also point to the potential use of virtual reality to evaluate sensory rehabilitation and balance training programs for old adults.     

The relationship between simulator sickness and driving performance in a high-fidelity simulator

Driving simulators are highly valuable tools for various applications such as research, training, and rehabilitation. However, they are also known to cause simulator sickness, a special form of traditional motion sickness. Common side effects of simulator sickness include nausea, headache, dizziness, eye-strain, and/or disorientation, all symptoms which may negatively impact driving performance. The goal of the present study was to investigate the relationship between simulator sickness and driving performance obtained in a high-fidelity driving simulator. Twenty-one healthy participants were engaged in a simulated driving task containing rural, city, and highway sections for approx. 25 min. Participants were asked to drive naturally while obeying traffic rules and completing common driving maneuvers (including reactions to sudden events). Driving performance was evaluated based on various driving measures, such as lane positioning, speed measures, following distance, or the number of steering reversals. Simulator sickness was measured before, during, and after the simulated drive using a combination of the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire and the Fast Motion Sickness scale. Overall, correlations between the level of simulator sickness and driving performance measures were low to moderate (r’s from -0.37 to 0.40) and were not significant. Additionally, participants who reported higher levels of simulator sickness did not differ with regards to their driving performance from those who reported lower simulator sickness scores. Our results suggest that the presence of simulator sickness is not strongly related to performance in a driving simulator.     

Taste perceptual circuit for the generation of autonomous responses in virtual creatures

BraLearning is one of the most complex cognitive processes that living beings have. This process is distributed within the brain and each independent cognitive function contributes to a small or large extent to it. Particularly, affective learning is a process that allows us to identify stimuli in the environment and discriminate them based on our tastes or preferences. Within this work we will address a type of affective evaluation generated by the perceptual circuit of taste that allows us to determine flavors from the environment and how this information becomes part of the perceptual affective evaluation. We will start this work by identifying other computational works that address affective processes oriented to taste or that involve some other affective evaluation. Subsequently, we analyze of neuroscientific information that allows us to build an informal model of the perceptual circuit of taste. Finally, we propose a cognitive architecture for the generation of autonomous responses oriented to taste in virtual creatures and we will demonstrate its functionality through an implementation of this model in some case studies through distributed modules and discuss the results obtained.     

Impressions of World of Warcraft players’ personalities based on their usernames: Interobserver consensus but no accuracy

Millions of people interact in the context of massively-multi-player-online-role-play-games (MMORPGs). Here we address whether MMORPG usernames convey accurate information about users’ personalities. Impressions based on email addresses show some accuracy but MMORPG’s are different because they provide little accountability, with little expectation that users will ever meet in person. We assessed consensus and accuracy in impressions based on 1357 (153 females) World of Warcraft users. Ratings of the usernames in terms of the Big Five dimensions yielded strong consensus (mean ICC = .46) but low accuracy (mean r = .01). Lens-model analysis suggest that features of the usernames have little validity, but observers used them anyway. Discussion focuses on why results might differ from those based on email addresses.     

The effects of virtual nature exposure on pro-environmental behaviour

Exposure to (virtual) natural environments may encourage people to care about environmental protection and to engage in pro-environmental behaviour. Previous research on this effect produced inconsistent results, suggesting that it may depend on the type of nature and behaviour under study. In the present study (N = 266), we investigated nature exposure effects on effortful pro-environmental behaviour in an online experiment. After watching pictures of either intact or destroyed natural environments, participants could exert voluntary extra efforts to generate real donations to an environmental organisation. In comparison to the intact nature condition, participants exerted significantly more effort for environmental protection after being exposed to pictures of destroyed nature. No clear differences were observed between the nature exposure conditions and a no-picture control condition. These findings illustrate the complexity of nature exposure effects and suggest that different types of nature exposure may differentially affect people's pro-environmental behaviour.     

Ethical Concerns About Virtual Schools

Abstract

The emergence of a diverse range of virtual schools in recent times raises ethical concerns. The paper considers historical antecedents, and reflects on the contribution that virtual schools might make to individuals and to society. Despite their potential, virtual schools are seen as unsuitable for some students, and there are indications that they have sometimes been supported for inappropriate reasons. Concerns are also raised about the effectiveness of socialization, communications in a virtual school, and the moral distancing effect of educational technologies. Suggestions related to ethical issues are offered for parents who are considering virtual schools for their children.     

Virtual Reality Exposure for Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Two open trials of Virtual Reality based exposure therapy (VRE) to desensitize Vietnam veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to some of their traumatic memories are described. A total of 21 patients were exposed to one of two virtual Vietnam computer-generated environments in which their individual traumatic experiences were simulated in response to their recounting these events. Although two patients experienced significant increases in symptoms during VRE, all patients' PTSD symptoms were below baseline by the 3-month post-treatment assessment. When the data from the two open trials was combined, clinically meaningful and statistically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms were found. These changes were long lasting as evidenced by the 6-month follow-up assessments. Two case examples are provided and future applications of this treatment are discussed.     

Microcomputer Technology and Related Services

Innovations in microcomputer technology in the area of related services (e.g., communication therapy, counseling, occupational and physical therapy) are appearing in ever-increasing numbers. This paper describes several of these innovations and attempts to analyze their potential contribution in helping the handicapped to function more independently. The innovations are discussed according to a cost/benefit appraoch. Costs associated with these innovations include those for conducting studies to determine the efficacy of the innovation; purchasing new or modified hardware (microprocessors, peripheral devices) and software; training personnel to modify software for unique needs and to instruct potential clients on the uses of the innovations; and devoting storage space for hardware and software as well as providing for their maintenance. Potential benefits include the number of handicapped individuals to be served; number of functions and tasks to be performed and the efficienct in performing them; and the perceived degree of independence to be achieved by students and clients.     

Spatial memory and executive functions in children

A computerized hidden pathway maze-learning task was used to examine the development of spatial memory and executive functions in 6- to 9-year-olds. Pathway length was manipulated to investigate the impact of increases in maze matrix size on these abilities. Analysis showed that maze matrix size (and ipso facto pathway length) and age interacted to affect executive functions but not spatial memory. Executive errors differed as a function of age on the most difficult maze. Results are discussed in terms of factors affecting the development of executive functions and spatial memory.     

Differentiated forgetting rates of spatial knowledge in humans in the absence of repeated testing

Spatial knowledge, necessary for efficient navigation, comprises route knowledge (memory of the landmarks along a route) and survey knowledge (map-like). Available data on the retention in humans of spatial knowledge show that this does not decline systematically over months or years. Here, two groups of participants elaborated route and survey knowledge during navigation in a complex virtual environment before performing route and survey tasks. Both groups were tested 5 minutes after learning and 3 months later, while one group was also tested 1 week and 1 month later (repeated testing). Performance was similar in both groups on the first testing session, remained stable in the repeated tested group, but decreased in the non-repeated tested group, especially on route tasks. These results are the first to reveal a substantial and selective decline of spatial knowledge, occurring only if there is no possibility of reactivating knowledge along repeated testing.