2. Virtual Reality in Healthcare

Question 1

Virtual Reality (VR), has been increasingly used in psychology and cognitive neuroscience to offer alternative treatments for issues such as

Answer 1

social disorders, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD)

Question 2

VR offers a paradigm for people

Answer 2

to manipulate, interact with, immerse themselves in, and navigate through highly mimetic or fantasy-based 3D environments

Question 3

Applications of VR in Flight and Driving Simulators are

Answer 3

Flight and driving simulators allow users to practice flying or driving in a safe, controlled environment, where mistakes will not endanger themselves or others. These simulators allow cars or planes, and the surrounding landscapes, to be recreated and manipulated with a realistic display of visuals, sounds and motion mechanisms. It is possible to change the features of the vehicle (aesthetic and/or functional) and observe how users react to the changes, thereby allowing training in varied situations.

Question 4

Applications of VR in Surgery Simulators

Answer 4

Surgery simulators offer a virtual environment where surgeons can use haptic interfaces (which look and feel like real surgical instruments) to practice surgical procedures on three-dimensional virtual models of patients with a range of different issues. This allows surgeons to practise on a virtual patient with characteristics similar to a real patient. With the creation of surgical robots, the experience from the virtual surgery conducted via haptic interface and screen is made more directly transferrable into reality.

Question 5

Applications of VR in Design & Visualisation of Objects

Answer 5

Virtual reality can be used to design and test different machines, objects, or concepts before manufacturing them. The process can also go in the other direction: objects that exist in the real world can be transferred to a virtual environment. One example is simulations of buildings created in virtual environments: the user can walk through a virtual historical space, interact with the items in it, and learn about historical facts without visiting the building in person.

Question 6

Applications of VR in Psychotherapy

Answer 6

Virtual reality can evoke virtual presence, a feeling of being present and involved in the virtual environment. The most popular therapeutic application of virtual reality in psychology is for the treatment of phobias and trauma symptoms through virtual exposure to the feared object or situation.

Question 7

Applications of VR in Psychotherapy

Answer 7

Virtual reality can evoke virtual presence, a feeling of being present and involved in the virtual environment. The most popular therapeutic application of virtual reality in psychology is for the treatment of phobias and trauma symptoms through virtual exposure to the feared object or situation.

Question 8

In traditional exposure therapy, people are exposed to feared objects or contexts to

Answer 8

overcome their anxieties or fears surrounding it

Question 9

VRET involves

Answer 9

exposure to feared situations occurring in virtual environments that resemble the feared real-life situations

Question 10

Most VR systems consist of

Answer 10

a head-mounted display, a head-tracking device, and a position sensor. These devices work together to provide the person with a sense of being ‘present’ within the virtual environment

Question 11

Studies on the use of VR in treatments have shown

Answer 11

promising results

Question 12

patients undergoing VRET perform better on

Answer 12

behavioural assessments at post-treatment and at follow-up,

Question 13

VRET has been found to produce ______ results to conventional therapies on behavioural measures

Answer 13

similar

Question 14

VRET utilises the principles of _____ in exposure tasks

Answer 14

behaviour therapy

Question 15

Research has shown that modifications to one’s avatar can lead to _______

Answer 15

changes in behaviours and attitudes

Question 16

the Proteus effect is

Answer 16

a phenomenon where people infer their expected behaviours and attitudes from observing the digital representation of themselves

Question 17

In a series of experimental studies to explore the Proteus Effect in a VR environment, Yee and Bailenson (2007) demonstrated that:

Answer 17

1) Participants with attractive avatars walked closer to and disclosed more information to a stranger (a confederate), compared to participants with unattractive avatars; and

2) Participants with taller avatars negotiated more aggressively in a task to decide how a pool of money should be split, compared to participants with shorter avatars.

Question 18

Bailenson & Ducheneaut (2009), also found that

Answer 18

both the height and attractiveness of an avatar were found to predict players’ performance in an online game

Question 19

the findings of Bailenson & Ducheneaut (2009) suggest

Answer 19

people can, and do, psychologically identify with virtual representations that do not necessarily reflect their actual appearances, and that our virtual selves can change the way we interact with others

Question 20

In a novel pilot study examining the treatment of social anxiety, Aymerich-Franch, Kizilcec and Bailenson (2014) showed that

Answer 20

embodying a dissimilar avatar helped participants to decrease their anxiety levels