Enhancing Brain Training With Virtual Reality

Brain training is a large and a growing field, both scientifically and commercially. Emerging evidence demonstrates that training can promote beneficial brain plasticity in both healthy individuals and clinical populations. Much of the recent interest in brain training can be traced back to the seminal work done at the University of Rochester, where Daphne Bavelier and colleagues showed that training with action video games (AVG) can lead to a wide range of cognitive and perceptual improvements. In our recent work, we developed a novel training paradigm that isolates and concentrates the key aspects of AVG-training while eliminating complex and often violent gameplay associated with AVGs. The results revealed similarly broad effects of training as with conventional AVGs. In this study, we aim to move this training paradigm to virtual reality (VR) and extend its application to cognitive aging and mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) populations.

Inclusion criteria

A person is eligible for inclusion in the study if he/she:

• Is an adult over the age of 18.
• Has the capacity to give consent.
• Has normal or corrected to normal vision.
• Has adequate hearing.
• Is a non-action video game player.
• Is a non-VR game player. All subjects will be assigned to one of four groups: a Control Group training in VR, a Control Groups training on a 2D display, an Older Adult Group without dementia training in VR, and a College Athletes with mild TBI Group training in VR.

Specific Inclusion Criteria for both Control Groups. The subject must:

• Be between the ages of 18 and 35.
• Have no neurologic or vascular disorders/injuries.

Specific Inclusion Criteria for the College Athletes with TBI Group. The subject must:

• Be between the ages of 18 and 35.
• Be diagnosed with mild TBI (i.e., concussion) within the last two weeks.

Specific Inclusion Criteria for the Older Adult Group. The subject must:

• Be over the age of 65.
• Have no neurologic or vascular disorders/injuries.

Exclusion criteria

A person will be excluded from the study if he/she:

• Is under the age of 18.