They found that watching the virtual hand movements produced significantly smaller activation in the frontoparietal circuit that was recruited when watching movements of a real hand. ( 2001) assessed brain activation patterns while passively observing movements of real and virtual hands using fMRI. They found that these cells did not fire in the same systematic way when navigating through a virtual environment compared to a real environment. ( 2015) investigated firing of cells in the hippocampus of rats, which generally fire during spatial navigation when a cognitive map of the environment is generated. There is some evidence that neural firing is not directly comparable between real-world scenarios and virtual scenarios. Prior neuroscientific studies report on heterogeneous results concerning the comparability of brain activation patterns evoked by real and corresponding VR tasks (Aghajan et al. In the present study, we investigated this question by comparing EEG activation patterns over the motor cortex when watching one’s own hand movements in reality and in VR. are needed to guide future clinical inquiry” (Adamovich et al. ( 2009) also conclude in their review that “imaging studies to evaluate the effects of sensory manipulation on brain activation …. In this context, it is still an open question whether brain activation patterns that are evoked by executing and looking at one’s own movements in the first-person view in reality are comparable to brain activation patterns that are evoked by executing and looking at the same movements in VR. Watching the movements of the virtual hand of the affected side lead to increases of activation patterns in the motor areas of the affected brain areas. These movements were translated to movements of a corresponding or contralateral virtual hand model in VR. ( 2009) performed a VR study, in which a stroke patient performed movements with the unaffected hand. There is also evidence that VR can be used to activate the mirror neuron system in the brain. For instance, kinematics of movements are similar in real and virtual environments and changes in brain activation patterns due to virtual and real motor training are largely similar in neurologic patients (Adamovich et al. Generally, motor training in VR has similar positive effects on motor function than motor training in the real world (Karamians et al. Neurophysiological and behavioral benefits of tasks such as movement observation, practicing or imitating movements can be easily incorporated into VR to target brain areas necessary for functional recovery (Adamovich et al. In the context of motor rehabilitation, it is assumed that an adaptive and engaging VR can provide intensive sensorimotor stimulation, which is needed to induce brain reorganization (Adamovich et al. Additionally, VR scenarios enable cost effective training at home (Adamovich et al. VR can improve training motivation by providing engaging and interesting VR scenarios (Levin et al. For such clinical applications, VR offers the possibility of safe training environments, which can be individually adapted to the patients’ needs. 2012), and they are also used to support neurological rehabilitation, for instance, to restore hand and foot movements (Adamovich et al. For instance, virtual environments can be used to treat anxiety disorders (Meyerbröker and Emmelkamp 2011), pain (Shahnaz Shahrbanian et al. Virtual realities (VR) are increasingly used not only for entertainment purposes, but also as clinical and rehabilitation tools. This indicates that hand models in VR should be realistic to be able to evoke activation patterns in the motor cortex comparable to real-world scenarios. However, the VR conditions, especially the abstract VR condition, led to a weaker hemispheric lateralization effect compared to the real-world condition. Hence, brain activation patterns were largely comparable between conditions. All three conditions led to typical EEG activation patterns over the motor cortex. EEG activity was assessed over the hand motor areas during and after movement execution. The VR conditions were presented via an immersive 3D head-mounted display system. Therefore, 40 healthy adults (20 men, mean age 25.31 years) performed hand movements and viewed these movements in a first-person view in reality, a VR scene showing realistic virtual hands, and a VR scene showing abstract virtual hands, in a randomized order.
In the present study, we investigate whether brain activation patterns that are evoked by active movements are comparable when these movements are carried out in reality and in VR. Virtual reality (VR) is a promising tool for neurological rehabilitation, especially for motor rehabilitation.
0 kommentar(er)
