CD-ROM multimedia. The step before virtual reality

Applications developed using key multimedia elements are finding their way into a number of training and information exchange environments including the laparoscopy training market. Emerging multimedia-based applications range from procedural information for patients to interactive CD-ROM-based applications used to train highly skilled surgeons. These products are designed with a high level of interactivity that allows the surgeon to plan a surgical procedure, review detailed patient information and then merge that information into the surgical planning process. Using this new technology, a surgeon now has the ability to review CD-ROM-based course materials and efficiently meet continuing education requirements. The factor found most limiting in the development of multimedia-based applications for laparoscopy training is generally not the technology, but the limits placed on the technology because of one's reluctance to think beyond what is accepted as the norm. Properly implemented, multimedia applications developed for laparoscopy training reduce the cost and time associated with learning new materials, assist a user in retaining more of the information reviewed, and in many cases make the learning experience much more enjoyable.     

The application of virtual reality technology in rehabilitation.

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology with a variety of potential benefits for many aspects of rehabilitation assessment, treatment, and research. Through its capacity to allow the creation and control of dynamic 3-dimensional, ecologically valid stimulus environments within which behavioral responding can be recorded and measured, VR offers clinical assessment and rehabilitation options that are not available with traditional methods. Initial applications of VR in other aspects of medicine and psychology have yielded encouraging results, but continued research and understanding of this evolving technology will be crucial for its effective integration into rehabilitation. This article provides a brief introduction to VR technology, examines the specific benefits VR offers consumers and providers of rehabilitation services and discusses potential areas of application and important considerations in applying this technology. Finally, 2 examples of current Vr applications are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The virtual hospital: the digital library moves from dream to reality

We examined the effects of passive immunization with a monoclonal antibody (EH3015) that recognizes a 150-kDa surface lectin of Entamoeba histolytica on amebic liver-abscess formation in hamsters. The hamsters were inoculated i.p with 0.1, 1.0, or 10 mg of EH3015 at 24 h prior to an intrahepatic challenge with 10(5) trophozoites of E. histolytica. In hamsters treated with 1.0 and 10 mg of EH3015 the incidence of liver abscesses was significantly reduced. These results demonstrate that monoclonal antibody EH3015 can prevent the development of amebic liver abscesses and that the 150-kDa lectin may be a protective antigen on the surface of E. histolytica.     

基于可视化虚拟现实技术的炼钢—连铸生产调度系统

采用虚拟现实技术开发了钢铁企业炼钢－连铸调度计划的调度系统。此方法利用虚拟现实技术的反馈设计和可视化的特点,能够使计划编制人员方便而有铲地制定调度计划。提出的调度方法有界面友好、结论直观、模型修改方便等优点。     

A controlled study of virtual reality exposure therapy for the fear of flying.

Fear of flying (FOF) affects an estimated 10–25% of the population. Patients with FOF (N?=?49) were randomly assigned to virtual reality exposure (VRE) therapy, standard exposure (SE) therapy, or a wait-list (WL) control. Treatment consisted of 8 sessions over 6 weeks, with 4 sessions of anxiety management training followed by either exposure to a virtual airplane (VRE) or exposure to an actual airplane at the airport (SE). A posttreatment flight on a commercial airline measured participants' willingness to fly and anxiety during flight immediately after treatment. The results indicated that VRE and SE were both superior to WL, with no differences between VRE and SE. The gains observed in treatment were maintained at a 6-month follow up. By 6 months posttreatment, 93% of VRE participants and 93% of SE participants had flown. VRE therapy and SE therapy for treatment of FOF were unequivocally supported in this controlled study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surgical simulation and virtual reality: the coming revolution

The present study was designed to define whether maximal removal rate of indocyanine green (ICG Rmax), plasma cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response to exogenous glucagon (peak to basal ratio of cAMP level: P/B cAMP) and plasma half-life of galactose (t1/2 galactose) can measure the hepatic functional reserve of fatty liver prepared in rats fed choline-deficient (9 weeks), 2% cholesterol (2 weeks) or 0.25% DL-ethionine (2 weeks) diet. Although changes in cholesterol and phospholipid values in serum during feeding periods differed among the models, histopathologic examinations in the liver of almost all animals revealed intermediate to severe fatty liver with or without fibrosis at each termination. ICG Rmax and P/B cAMP were significantly decreased in rats fed choline-deficient or DL-ethionine diet, implying reductions in hepatic functional mass and disturbances in hepatic cAMP production. Meanwhile, t1/2 galactose showed no change in any of the models, suggesting that glucose metabolisms in the models used may be preserved. These findings demonstrate that ICG Rmax and P/B cAMP can apply to measurement of hepatic surviving reserve of fatty liver with fibrosis.     

Testing the continuum of delusional beliefs: An experimental study using virtual reality.

A key problem in studying a hypothesized spectrum of severity of delusional ideation is determining that ideas are unfounded. The first objective was to use virtual reality to validate groups of individuals with low, moderate, and high levels of unfounded persecutory ideation. The second objective was to investigate, drawing upon a cognitive model of persecutory delusions, whether clinical and nonclinical paranoia are associated with similar causal factors. Three groups (low paranoia, high nonclinical paranoia, persecutory delusions) of 30 participants were recruited. Levels of paranoia were tested using virtual reality. The groups were compared on assessments of anxiety, worry, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anomalous perceptual experiences, reasoning, and history of traumatic events. Virtual reality was found to cause no side effects. Persecutory ideation in virtual reality significantly differed across the groups. For the clear majority of the theoretical factors there were dose–response relationships with levels of paranoia. This is consistent with the idea of a spectrum of paranoia in the general population. Persecutory ideation is clearly present outside of clinical groups and there is consistency across the paranoia spectrum in associations with important theoretical variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Twelve-month follow-up of virtual reality and standard exposure therapies for the fear of flying.

This study reports the 12-mo follow-up from patients with the fear of flying who were treated in a controlled study and randomly assigned (n=49) to virtual reality exposure (VRE) therapy, standard exposure (SE) therapy, or to a wait-list control (WL). VRE and SE were equally superior to WL. At 12 mo posttreatment, data were gathered on 24 of the 30 (80%) patients who were assigned to VRE or SE. Patients maintained their treatment gains, and 92% of VRE participants and 91% of SE participants had flown on a real airplane since the graduation flight. This is the 1st year-long follow-up of patients having been treated with VRE and indicates that short-term treatment can have lasting effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological benefits of exercise paired with virtual reality: Outdoor exercise energizes whereas indoor virtual exercise relaxes.

In the present study the authors sought to evaluate the psychological effects of exercise when paired with virtual reality. One-hundred and twelve introductory psychology students (47 male and 65 female) were randomly assigned to one of three 20-min experimental conditions including (a) taking a brisk outdoor walk around a college campus, (b) walking on a laboratory treadmill combined with a virtual reality video presentation of the same college campus walk, or (c) viewing the virtual reality walk without participating in any actual exercise. Several standardized mood and enjoyment measures were administered immediately before and after the experimental conditions. Results suggest that greater energy was experienced while walking outside whereas less energy was reported when viewing the virtual reality walk with no actual exercise. These findings were most pronounced for female participants. Both female and male participants walking in the laboratory with the virtual reality were more relaxed and experienced the least tension of the three conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analgesic effects of posthypnotic suggestions and virtual reality distraction on thermal pain.

The individual and combined effects of posthypnotic suggestion (PHS) and virtual reality distraction (VRD) on experimentally induced thermal pain were examined using a 2 × 2, between-groups design. After receiving baseline thermal pain, each participant received hypnosis or no hypnosis, followed by VRD or no VRD during another pain stimulus. Consistent with the hypothesis that hypnosis and VRD work via different mechanisms, results show that posthypnotic analgesia was moderated by hypnotizability but VRD analgesia was not. The impact of PHSs for analgesia was specific to high hypnotizables, whereas VRD was effective independent of hypnotizability. Results also show a nonsignificant but predicted pattern for high hypnotizables: Audio hypnosis combined with VRD reduced worst pain 22% more and pain unpleasantness 25% more than did VRD alone. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

VR技术在矿工安全培训中的应用研究

传统的矿工培训高成本、低效益,不能适应井下复杂多变特殊环境的要求。本文应用计算机技术,采用基于虚拟现实的方法,构建了井下生产的虚拟环境;在这个虚拟环境中,矿工可以身临其境地去接触、认知、决策和处理各种突变情况,其决策结果会立即反馈给受训者,由此提高矿工的培训效果。     

Smearing in the name of scholarship.

Responds to a reply by B. P. Karon and A. J. Widener (see record 1998-12169-012) to the author's critique (see record 1998-12169-011) of their discussion of repressed and recovered memories of WWII veterans in relation to his experience of being falsely accused of sexual abuse by his daughters after they went to recovered memory therapists. The author suggests that Karon and Widener's critique of his reply is a personal attack on his research and writing, and cites instances of distortion in their work relating to recovery of repressed memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reality of deception.

Comments on the article by A. Ortmann and R. Hertwig (see record 1997-04731-011) in which the authors express concern about the increase in the use of deception in psychological research. It is noted that social psychologists in particular are interested in research questions that often can be studied only if deception is used in realistic situations. The history of the use of deception in social psychology is linked not only to changes in psychological theory and method but also to characteristics of American culture such as individualism and pragmatism. Thus, individual experimenters decide if the results of their research justify the use of deception. Moral philosophers do not agree that deception is wrong, and in our cultural context, the suggestion by Ortmann and Hertwig that all forms of deception be outlawed is unrealistic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Virtual reality for the psychophysiological assessment of phobic fear: Responses during virtual tunnel driving.

An overall assessment of phobic fear requires not only a verbal self-report of fear but also an assessment of behavioral and physiological responses. Virtual reality can be used to simulate realistic (phobic) situations and therefore should be useful for inducing emotions in a controlled, standardized way. Verbal and physiological fear reactions were examined in 15 highly tunnel-fearful and 15 matched control participants in 3 virtual driving scenarios: an open environment, a partially open tunnel (gallery), and a closed tunnel. Highly tunnel-fearful participants were characterized by elevated fear responses specifically during tunnel drives as reflected in verbal fear ratings, heart rate reactions, and startle responses. Heart rate and fear ratings differentiated highly tunnel-fearful from control participants with an accuracy of 88% and 93%, respectively. Results indicate that virtual environments are valuable tools for the assessment of fear reactions and should be used in future experimental research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning science in virtual reality multimedia environments: Role of methods and media.

College students learned about botany through an agent-based multimedia game. In Experiment 1, students received either spoken or identical on-screen text explanations; in addition, the lesson was presented either via a desktop display (D), a head-mounted display (HMD) used while sitting, or an HMD used while walking (W). In Experiment 2, we examined the effects of presenting explanations as narration (N), text (T), or both (NT) within the D and W conditions. Students scored higher on retention, transfer, and program ratings in N conditions than in T conditions. The NT condition produced results in between. Students gave higher ratings of presence when learning with HMDs, but media did not affect performance on measures of retention, transfer, or program ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The emergence of the colon: An empirical correlate of scholarship.

Analyzed current issues of 30 prominent journals in psychology, education, and literary criticism for characteristic rhythmic traits of research titles. Data indicate the published title is extensive, dysrhythmic, and colonic, divided by a colon in 72% of the cases inspected. The colon emerged as the primary correlate of scholarship, evidenced in 5 regards: publishability, productivity, complexity of thought, distinction of endeavor, and progress of the enterprise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The gender reality hypothesis.

Comments on the article by J. S. Hyde (see record 2005-11115-001), in which Hyde reviewed meta-analytic evidence on gender differences and concluded that most psychological gender differences are in the close-to-zero or small range. The current author notes some omissions from Hyde's review, including the findings through other research large gender differences are reflected in some kinds of interests and occupational preferences, in males' and females placement on the people-things dimension of interests, and in many kinds of mental illness and behavior problems. The current author's position is that that many psychological gender differences are small-to-nonexistent, some are moderate, and some are large. The task that confronts gender researchers is to explain the complex profile of psychological gender differences and to untangle the myriad social and biological factors that generate both gender differences and gender similarities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reality of repressed memories.

Repression is one of the most haunting concepts in psychology. Something shocking happens, and the mind pushes it into some inaccessible corner of the unconscious. Later, the memory may emerge into consciousness. Repression is one of the foundation stones on which the structure of psychoanalysis rests. Recently there has been a rise in reported memories of childhood sexual abuse that were allegedly repressed for many years. With recent changes in legislation, people with recently unearthed memories are suing alleged perpetrators for events that happened 20, 30, even 40 or more years earlier. These new developments give rise to a number of questions: (1) How common is it for memories of child abuse to be repressed? (2) How are jurors and judges likely to react to these repressed memory claims? (3) When the memories surface, what are they like? and (4) How authentic are the memories? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accessing spoken words: The importance of word onsets.

Approaches to spoken word recognition differ in the importance they assign to word onsets during lexical access. This research contrasted the hypothesis that lexical access is strongly directional with the hypothesis that word onsets are less important than the overall goodness of fit between input and lexical form. A cross-modal priming technique was used to investigate the extent to which a rhyme prime (a prime that differs only in its first segment from the word that is semantically associated with the visual probe) is as effective a prime as the original word itself. Earlier research had shown that partial primes that matched from word onset were very effective cross-modal primes. The present results show that, irrespective of whether the rhyme prime was a real word or not, and irrespective of the amount of overlap between the rhyme prime and the original word, the rhymes are much less effective primes than the full word. In fact, no overall priming effect could be detected at all except under conditions in which the competitor environment was very sparse. This suggests that word onsets do have a special status in the lexical access of spoken words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)