Virtual reality technologies are becoming utilized more and more in various industries, ranging from entertainment, through movies and video games, to education via 3D classroom simulations. Now, the potential of virtual reality is being recognized by large organizations like the United States Army, who hope to gather more information about the various cognitive functions of the brain through the use of VR.
Col. James Ness, the new director of the Engineering Psychology Program in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at West Point, believes that VR technology can be a useful tool for medical training purposes, as performance measures can be identified more accurately in virtual situations. Ness believes this can be especially useful for soldiers returning from active duty and in the treatment of PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
«The beauty of VR is that it allows us to integrate standardized neuropsychological measures into interactive applications that approximate the real world of a military service member,» he explained.
Through further studies and the use of VR, Ness and his colleagues have created the Virtual Reality Cognitive Performance Assessment Test (now VRCPAT 2.0 for Adaptive Training) as part of a stress prevention project in which a virtual mentor guides individuals through traumatic episodes pre-deployment, providing coping strategies that may lessen the emotional damage from soldiers’ actual experiences in theater.
It will be interesting to see how VR technologies will continue to evolve in the forthcoming years, and how different industries will utilize these technologies as well. We hope that EON Reality can play a part in pioneering the way for the future of virtual and augmented reality to push the boundaries of future innovation.
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