Research Roundup (#11)
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Welcome...
Welcome to the eleventh-ever Research Roundup! A weekly catch-up on the latest developments in the field of XR research.
It’s been a busy week, so let's not hang around.
The Week in 3 (Sentences)
New research on diagnostic uses of VR suggests that VR combined with eye tracking and EEG can detect spatial neglect, while new deep learning models enable emotion tracking even though facial expressions are half hidden.
Studies focused on enhancing learning have suggested reflective prompts in AR may improve understanding, adaptive VR could reduce training time for medical procedures, and immersive experiences can shift mental health professionals' attitudes toward patients.
And finally, research on therapeutic applications has shown that VR could help breast cancer patients prepare for surgery and improve mental health during pregnancy, while also enhancing real-world social comfort for those experiencing social challenges.
The Week in 300 (words)
We love it when technology comes together so we were excited to read about the use of VR, eye-tracking and EEG to help assess, and potentially rehabilitate, people with unilateral spatial neglect (USN). For people unfamiliar with USN, it is a perceptual/attentional disorder that leads people to fail to ‘see’ the opposite side of space to their brain damage although their visual abilities are spared. Whilst each of these technologies has been used with USN independently, Eudave and Vourvopoulos brought them together to see if they could detect simulated pseudo-neglect in healthy participants. Crucially the research identified both behavioural and neural correlates of USN within the same procedure. Whilst the sample size was small, and ‘true’ USN patients need testing, it nevertheless suggests that multimodal assessment is both feasible and informative.
After a rush of researchers looking at AR supported learning comes a preprint that I didn't know we were waiting for, but clearly were. Rather than just prompt what the user should do in procedural tasks, researchers in Canada and the USA have tried including reflective prompts: prompting users to think as well. Whilst participants learnt to make coffee and assemble circuits they got additional prompts asking if it was necessary to do what they were doing, what they were trying to achieve, and what would happen in various hypothetical scenarios. Those of us in education will already know that some of the best learning comes from supporting thinking, and it was great to see it mirrored in the world of tech.
And finally, as more and more people battle loneliness and disconnection there is a growing need for the development of basic social skills. Enter ROOM a multi-user VR-based application for Reconnecting with Ourselves and Others in virtual Meetings. Both feasibility and acceptability of the psychotherapeutic intervention was tested with 33 college students who experienced social discomfort around others. With several advantages compared to apps or videoconferencing, this just may be the way forward to give people back the skills that make them feel part of the social world.
Paper of the Week
This week the paper of the week goes to researchers in Australia who have been using electrical stimulation to try and reduce cybersickness.
Regular readers will know that some aspects of cybersickness can be designed out, or go away with experience, but not all of them can or do. The visual and vestibular conflict can cognitively be too much to handle for some people, amongst other reasons.
Here the researchers used a small device, developed by Otolith labs, that created vestibular stimulation through bone conduction. Participants were riding the dreaded VR rollercoaster with and without the stimulation, as well as varying the force level. Needless to say the stimulation led to reduced symptoms of cybersickness.
Whilst this is not the first time the general principle has been demonstrated (see also here) it was the first time this has been demonstrated using constant stimulation and commercial VR content.
As we all know, many users are 'once bitten, twice shy’ when it comes to cybersickness. We also know that rollercoasters have ruined VR for many people! The idea of an electronic device that fixes the issue, or at least partially, therefore has a lot of appeal. Let's see how far this can go...