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VR

This shows a child in a VR generated room.

·April 8, 2025·5 min read

AI and VR System Detects Autism in Kids with Over 85% Accuracy

Researchers have developed a virtual reality and AI-based system that can detect autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young children with over 85% accuracy—outperforming traditional assessment methods. The system observes children's motor movements and gaze patterns while they engage in tasks within immersive virtual environments, enabling more naturalistic responses than typical lab settings.

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·October 9, 2018·6 min read

Anorexic Patients Prefer Underweight Bodies

Using virtual reality, researchers shed light on how those with anorexia perceive their own bodies.The study also found women with anorexia consider severely underweight bodies to be ideal and most attractive.

This shows a fading woman sitting in a forest

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 12, 2021·4 min read

Anxiety Cues Found in the Brain Despite Safe Environment

Virtual reality is helping researchers uncover some of the secrets of anxiety. Using VR, study participants were able to distinguish between safe and dangerous environments in a game. However, brain scans of those with anxiety showed increased activity in the insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex while in a safe zone, indicating their brains were associating the safe environment with threat or danger.

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·September 17, 2015·4 min read

Becoming Freud: Embodiment Modifies Thought Processes

Embodying Freud through immersive virtual reality allowed people to give themselves better psychological advice, a new study reports.

Image shows the virtual environment house before and after modification.

Featured Neurology

·June 14, 2016·5 min read

Combating Virtual Reality Sickness

Researchers have developed a new method for combating nausea associated with virtual reality which can be applied to head worn VR displays.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·June 17, 2021·3 min read

Commercial Video Games Could Help Treat Mental Illness

Inexpensive, commercial video games may help those suffering from anxiety and depression to combat their symptoms. Researchers found that, in addition to conventional games, virtual reality games could help people overcome mental health problems.

This shows a woman eating in a small cell.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 18, 2024·4 min read

Confined Spaces Change How We Smell and Experience Food

Researchers found that confined environments, like the International Space Station, alter the way people perceive food aromas, with emotions significantly coloring their responses. Using virtual reality to simulate space conditions, participants reported stronger smells for most aromas, except lemongrass, compared to a microgravity posture.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·October 16, 2018·3 min read

Eating with Your Eyes: Virtual Reality Can Alter Taste

A new virtual reality study reveals people's perception of taste can be altered by what they experience in their surroundings.

This is a graphic abstract from the study

Featured Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·August 26, 2020·4 min read

How ‘Swapping Bodies’ With a Friend Changes Our Sense of Self

Friends who "swapped bodies" using virtual reality to generate the perceptual illusion found their beliefs about their personalities altered to become more similar to the beliefs about their friends' personalities. Findings suggest that when our mental self-concept doesn't match our physical self, our memories become impaired.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 15, 2022·4 min read

How People Adapt to Cybersickness From Virtual Reality

Those who are prone to motion sickness have a harder time adapting to cybersickness and different virtual reality environments. However, people can adapt to the effects of VR-associated cybersickness by playing the same game repeatedly.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 24, 2021·5 min read

How the Brain Perceives and Remembers a New Place

Combining virtual reality with neuroimaging, researchers identify how the brain perceives and remembers a novel place or landscape.

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·February 16, 2019·8 min read

Immersive Virtual Reality Therapy Shows Lasting Effect in Phobia Treatments For Children with ASD

Researchers report children on the autism spectrum who experience specific phobias may benefit from immersive virtual reality therapy. The study reports immersive VR helped almost 45% of children with ASD remain free from their phobias six months after treatment.