{"id":296892,"date":"2018-02-13T12:40:03","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T17:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=296892"},"modified":"2018-06-01T12:52:42","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T16:52:42","slug":"training-brains-young-old-sick-healthy-virtual-reality-296892","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/training-brains-young-old-sick-healthy-virtual-reality-296892\/","title":{"rendered":"Training brains\u2014young and old, sick and healthy\u2014with virtual reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Virtual reality (VR) uses advanced display and immersive audio technologies to create an interactive, three-dimensional image or environment. Augmented reality (AR), meanwhile, uses digital technology to overlay video and audio onto the physical world to provide information and embellish our experiences. <\/i><\/p>\n

At the University of Rochester, we\u2019re crossing disciplines to collaborate on VR\/AR innovations that will revolutionize how we learn<\/a>, discover, heal<\/a>, and create<\/a> as we work to make the world ever better.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"logo<\/a>An accidental discovery by Rochester researchers in 2003 touched off a wave of research into the area of neuroplasticity in adults, or how the brain\u2019s neural connections change throughout a person\u2019s lifespan.<\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, Shawn Green was a graduate student of Daphne Bavelier, then an associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University. As the two created visual tests together, Green demonstrated exceptional proficiency at taking these tests himself. The two researchers hypothesized that it might be due to his extensive experience playing first-person, action-based video games. From there, Green and Bavelier demonstrated that, indeed, action-based video games enhance the brain\u2019s ability to process visual information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In years since, video gaming technology has gotten more sophisticated, regularly incorporating or featuring virtual reality (VR). The Oculus Rift headset, for example, connects directly to your PC to create an immersive VR gaming experience.<\/p>\n

If we know that action-based video games enhance visual attention, might VR games do the same (and perhaps to a greater degree) because of the increased level of immersion?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the question a current group of Rochester researchers\u2014Duje Tadin, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences; Jeffrey Bazarian, professor of emergency medicine; and Feng (Vankee) Lin, assistant professor in the School of Nursing\u2014hope to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of the existing research on brain plasticity in adults has focused on healthy adults,\u201d says Tadin, who studies the neural mechanisms of visual perception. However, Tadin\u2019s own recent research<\/a> has shown that brain-training video games can improve the peripheral vision of children with poor eyesight. In other words, he says, \u201cThe people who might benefit the most from this work are those who have decrements in their attention or cognitive abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll three of us are studying the brain, but in different disciplines. And I think the biggest scientific advancements come not from within a discipline, but from branching out.\u201d<\/div>\n

But accessing such populations can prove challenging on a college campus, where undergraduate students (the typical study participants) abound.<\/p>\n

A meeting of interdisciplinary minds<\/h2>\n

Enter Lin and Bazarian.<\/p>\n

Tadin was one of Lin\u2019s postdoc mentors, and Lin is now a leading researcher on cognitive aging in older adults. Her lab studies the use of computerized cognitive training to help slow cognitive decline. Meanwhile, Tadin met Bazarian during a February 2017 meeting of the UR Health Lab<\/a>, a multidisciplinary campus collaboration that aims to bring computing, analytics, and technology to bear on modern-day challenges in medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went to this meeting, I didn\u2019t realize how many people on the River Campus were doing work with potential medical applications,\u201d recalls Bazarian, who studies concussions and other traumatic brain injuries with an eye toward preventing, diagnosing, and treating such conditions. \u201cAnd Duje probably had no idea there were researchers like me with patients who could help test his ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll three of us are studying the brain, but in different disciplines,\u201d Tadin says. \u201cAnd I think the biggest scientific advancements come not from within a discipline, but from branching out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers presented their idea at the AR\/VR Grand Challenge in April 2017, a University-wide retreat connecting researchers across the disciplines and various campuses. Combining their scientific expertise and resources helped them secure grant funding from Arts, Sciences & Engineering, the Medical Center, and the School of Nursing to study the effects of VR brain training on three groups:<\/p>\n