Virtual Reality In Dementia Essay

Virtual Reality in Dementia For nearly a decade, virtual reality has been used in video games and military training to create an element of realism and a true environmental reaction. As the world continually becomes interconnected through technology the use of virtual reality will no doubt increase. Extra Sensory Perception, an article from Scientific American, explores how the vast network of sensors currently housed in current technology could be eventually be used as sensory prosthetics via wearable technology. Recently virtual reality has been used in a therapeutic method by helping those with neurodegenerative disorders and aiding in memory rehabilitation. (Dublon & Paradiso, 2014) Virtual reality applications could be used to exploit the person's persevered procedural abilities. In particular, cognitive processes could be restored via procedures practiced repetitively within an environment which contains functional real-world demands. Currently, many medical professionals all over the world are experimenting with using virtual reality for patients with dementia. A therapy study complete by Toshima, a Japanese therapist applied the concept of visual memory to virtual reality. Toshima started out …show more content…
Studies show that virtual reality is currently being used to identify early onset dementia, a disease caused by Alzheimer’s. A study led by Lukas Kunz of the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn found that high-risk groups (Alzheimer's) navigated the maze differently and had reduced functioning brain cells involved in spatial navigation. (Kunz, et al., 2015). The latest study focused on healthy younger people at higher genetic risk of Alzheimer's, suggesting they many already shows alterations in spatial navigation several decades before the disease could