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Positive Technology Journals

« 2006-02-21 | HomePage | 2006-02-23 »

Feb 22, 2006

Virtual reality cues for improvement of gait in patients with multiple sclerosis

Baram, Yoram PhD; Miller, Ariel MD, PhD

Neurology. 66(2):178-181, January 24, 2006.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of visual cues, provided through a portable visual-feedback virtual reality (VR) apparatus, on the walking abilities of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). METHODS: On-line (display-on) and residual short-term therapeutic effects on walking speed and stride length were measured in 16 randomly selected patients with gait disturbances predominantly due to cerebellar ataxia. RESULTS: Patients whose baseline walking speed (BWS) was below the median showed an average on-line improvement of 13.46% in their walking speed, while patients whose BWS was above the median improved their speed by 1.47%. The average short-term residual therapeutic improvement in walking speed was 24.49% in patients with BWS below the median, and 9.09% in patients with BWS above the median. Similar results were obtained for improvements in stride length. These results of improved functions in patients are particularly noteworthy when compared with the lack of change in healthy control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with multiple sclerosis showed improvement in walking abilities using virtual reality visual-feedback cues.

11:58 Posted in Cybertherapy | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Positive Technology

Social puppet to train soldiers

Via Smart Mobs

'Social Puppet,' is a 3D simulation program created to help soldiers learn unfamiliar languages by interacting with animated characters. For this project, financed by DARPA, the researchers have given on-screen characters human non-verbal communication behaviors.
 

The software has been designed by Hannes Högni Vilhjálmsson of the University of Southern California (USC) Information Sciences Institute.


read full article here



11:25 Posted in Telepresence & virtual presence | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Positive Technology, Presence, social presence

Humans Ignore Motion and Stereo Cues in Favor of a Fictional Stable World

Humans Ignore Motion and Stereo Cues in Favor of a Fictional Stable World.

Curr Biol. 2006 Feb 21;16(4):428-432

Authors: Glennerster A, Tcheang L, Gilson SJ, Fitzgibbon AW, Parker AJ

As we move through the world, our eyes acquire a sequence of images. The information from this sequence is sufficient to determine the structure of a three-dimensional scene, up to a scale factor determined by the distance that the eyes have moved . Previous evidence shows that the human visual system accounts for the distance the observer has walked and the separation of the eyes when judging the scale, shape, and distance of objects. However, in an immersive virtual-reality environment, observers failed to notice when a scene expanded or contracted, despite having consistent information about scale from both distance walked and binocular vision. This failure led to large errors in judging the size of objects. The pattern of errors cannot be explained by assuming a visual reconstruction of the scene with an incorrect estimate of interocular separation or distance walked. Instead, it is consistent with a Bayesian model of cue integration in which the efficacy of motion and disparity cues is greater at near viewing distances. Our results imply that observers are more willing to adjust their estimate of interocular separation or distance walked than to accept that the scene has changed in size.

11:07 Posted in Virtual worlds | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Positive Technology

Cognitive and Emotional Health Project

Via Brain Blog

The US National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have launched a new initiative, called Cognitive and Emotional Health Project. The goal of the initiative is to evaluate the state of the art in research on demographic, social and biologic determinants of cognitive and emotional health in aging adults.

From the website

"Three Institutes, the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), have joined efforts to launch a new trans-NIH initiative, Cognitive and Emotional Health Project: The Healthy Brain. There are now about 45 million Americans over age 60 and 117 million over age 40. Current evidence indicates that a large number of them are at substantial risk for cognitive impairment from many causes as they age. The same is true for emotional disorders. While research into biological mechanisms and environmental and social effects are yielding promising results in both animal and human studies, much remains to be discovered. Advances in understanding the positive and negative changes in cognition and emotion in adulthood, and what can be done to preserve and enhance positive outcomes, is at the core of the missions of the participating Institutes. The overall goal of the "Healthy Brain Project" is to assess the state of longitudinal and epidemiological research on demographic, social and biologic determinants of cognitive and emotional health in aging adults and the pathways by which cognitive and emotional health may reciprocally influence each other. A number of activities have been undertaken to accomplish these goals."

10:55 Posted in Research institutions & funding opportunities | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Positive Technology, funding opportunities