May 18, 2007
Cornell Researchers Use "Virtual Iraq" Simulation to Study PTSD
Weill Cornell Medical College researchers are using a virtual reality simulation called "Virtual Iraq" to better understand how symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develop. Virtual Iraq is a 3-D virtual-reality simulation of an urban combat scenario. Subjects wear a headset, through which they hear, see, and — using a keypad — "move" through a "virtual world" in which images change in a natural way along with head and body movement.
According to a recent Archives of Internal Medicine study as many as 13 percent of recent veterans are diagnosed with PTSD. The Weill Cornell researchers are testing whether physiological arousal (heart rate, stress hormones) and anxiety while viewing the simulation — as well as suppressing memories after viewing the simulation — affect the ability to remember the scenario and suppress intrusive scenario memories.
The researchers from Cornell are testing the hypothesis that verbalizing the traumatic experience, instead of suppressing it, enables patients to better integrate the experience into regular conscious memory, in turn, making the triggering of intrusive traumatic memories (and other re-experiencing symptoms, like flashbacks) less likely. Research suggests that memories formed during trauma exposure are easily cued by environmental stimuli, and memory suppression has been associated with the development, maintenance and severity of PTSD.
The "Virtual Iraq" virtual-reality environment was developed by Dr. Albert Rizzo of the University of Southern California (USC) Creative Technologies Laboratory and Ken Graap of Virtually Better, Decatur, Ga., with funding from the U.S. Naval Research Office.
Weill Cornell Medical College Press Release
Posted by rsk at May 18, 2007 07:41 PM