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Virtual Reality (VR) has a million different uses. For some it is a perfect gaming media and for others – simulation tool or even a system helping perfecting car assembly process. Now scientists from the University of Waterloo say that VR could help treating people with neurological disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease.

Time perception is very important for us. But certain neurological disorders, such as the ones mentioned above, shift the perception of time, making life extremely difficult. Because time is an important factor in how we interact with the world, these people suffer from the internal clock running imprecisely.

This study involved 18 females and 13 males with normal vision and no sensory, musculoskeletal or neurological disorders. They had to play a virtual reality game, called Robo Recall, which was meant to recalibrate time perception by matching the speed and duration of visual events to the participant’s body movements. Scientists measured each participant’s time perception abilities before and after the exercise and got some surprising results.

Researchers found that virtual reality manipulation reduced the estimates of time by around 15 %, making them more accurate. In other words, VR allowed recalibrating participants’ internal clock, making it match the reality a little better. This is extremely good news, because wonky time perception for people with neurological disorders greatly reduces the quality of life. However, as always, more research is needed before VR could become a viable therapy for people with as autism, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions. Scientists have to find out how long-lasting these effects are and whether there are any undesirable side effects.

VR technology made huge advancements in the last several years. Now it is not just something that is for entertainment purposes only, but it is also a useful tool in a variety of situations. Michael Barnett-Cowan, senior author of the study, said: “VR now convincingly changes our experience of space and time, enabling basic research in perception to inform our understanding of how the brains of normal, injured, aged and diseased populations work and how they can be treated to perform optimally”.

Most people still have never tried virtual reality. It is still not a commonly used piece of technology. But many experts predict that it is going to become a popular way of playing games in the near future. Maybe it could also be used to treat various neurological conditions.

Source: University of Waterloo