Effectiveness of Virtual Reality for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Evidence-Based Systematic Review

[EN] Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease that is specially characterized by impairments in social communication and social skills. ASD has a high prevalence in children, affecting 1 in 160 subjects. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as an effective tool for intervention in the health field. Different recent papers have reviewed the VR-based treatments in ASD, but they have an important limitation because they only use clinical databases and do not include important technical indexes such as the Web of Science index or the Scimago Journal & Country Rank. To our knowledge, this is the first contribution that has carried out an evidence-based systematic review including both clinical and technical databases about the effectiveness of VR-based intervention in ASD. The initial search identified a total of 450 records. After the exclusion of the papers that are not studies, duplicated articles, and the screening of the abstract and full text, 31 articles met the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcomes) criteria and were selected for analysis. The studies examined suggest moderate evidence about the effectiveness of VR-based treatments in ASD. VR can add many advantages to the treatment of ASD symptomatology, but it is necessary to develop consistent validations in future studies to state that VR can effectively complement the traditional treatments.Mesa Gresa, P.; Gil Gómez, H.; Lozano Quilis, JA.; Gil-Gómez, J. (2018). Effectiveness of Virtual Reality for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Evidence-Based Systematic Review. Sensors. 18(8):1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18082486S115188World Health Organizationhttp://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disordersColombi, C., & Ghaziuddin, M. (2017). Neuropsychological Characteristics of Children with Mixed Autism and ADHD. Autism Research and Treatment, 2017, 1-5. doi:10.1155/2017/5781781Merriam-Websterhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtual%20realityBird, M.-L., Cannell, J., Jovic, E., Rathjen, A., Lane, K., Tyson, A., … Smith, S. (2017). A Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Efficacy of Virtual Reality in Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 98(10), e27. doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2017.08.084Albiol-Pérez, S., Gil-Gómez, J.-A., Muñoz-Tomás, M.-T., Gil-Gómez, H., Vial-Escolano, R., & Lozano-Quilis, J.-A. (2017). The Effect of Balance Training on Postural Control in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Using a Virtual Rehabilitation System. Methods of Information in Medicine, 56(02), 138-144. doi:10.3414/me16-02-0004Garcia-Palacios, A., Herrero, R., Vizcaíno, Y., Belmonte, M. A., Castilla, D., Molinari, G., … Botella, C. (2015). Integrating Virtual Reality With Activity Management for the Treatment of Fibromyalgia. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 31(6), 564-572. doi:10.1097/ajp.0000000000000196Bekelis, K., Calnan, D., Simmons, N., MacKenzie, T. A., & Kakoulides, G. (2017). Effect of an Immersive Preoperative Virtual Reality Experience on Patient Reported Outcomes. Annals of Surgery, 265(6), 1068-1073. doi:10.1097/sla.0000000000002094Orlosky, J., Itoh, Y., Ranchet, M., Kiyokawa, K., Morgan, J., & Devos, H. (2017). Emulation of Physician Tasks in Eye-Tracked Virtual Reality for Remote Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative Disease. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 23(4), 1302-1311. doi:10.1109/tvcg.2017.2657018Areces, D., Rodríguez, C., García, T., Cueli, M., & González-Castro, P. (2016). Efficacy of a Continuous Performance Test Based on Virtual Reality in the Diagnosis of ADHD and Its Clinical Presentations. Journal of Attention Disorders, 22(11), 1081-1091. doi:10.1177/1087054716629711Phé, V., Cattarino, S., Parra, J., Bitker, M.-O., Ambrogi, V., Vaessen, C., & Rouprêt, M. (2016). Outcomes of a virtual-reality simulator-training programme on basic surgical skills in robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. The International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery, 13(2), e1740. doi:10.1002/rcs.1740Pulijala, Y., Ma, M., Pears, M., Peebles, D., & Ayoub, A. (2018). Effectiveness of Immersive Virtual Reality in Surgical Training—A Randomized Control Trial. Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 76(5), 1065-1072. doi:10.1016/j.joms.2017.10.002Jarrold, W., Mundy, P., Gwaltney, M., Bailenson, J., Hatt, N., McIntyre, N., … Swain, L. (2013). Social Attention in a Virtual Public Speaking Task in Higher Functioning Children With Autism. Autism Research, 6(5), 393-410. doi:10.1002/aur.1302Mishkind, M. C., Norr, A. M., Katz, A. C., & Reger, G. M. (2017). Review of Virtual Reality Treatment in Psychiatry: Evidence Versus Current Diffusion and Use. Current Psychiatry Reports, 19(11). doi:10.1007/s11920-017-0836-0Liu, X., Wu, Q., Zhao, W., & Luo, X. (2017). Technology-Facilitated Diagnosis and Treatment of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Engineering Perspective. Applied Sciences, 7(10), 1051. doi:10.3390/app7101051Van Bennekom, M. J., de Koning, P. P., & Denys, D. (2017). Virtual Reality Objectifies the Diagnosis of Psychiatric Disorders: A Literature Review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 8. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00163Provoost, S., Lau, H. M., Ruwaard, J., & Riper, H. (2017). Embodied Conversational Agents in Clinical Psychology: A Scoping Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(5), e151. doi:10.2196/jmir.6553Lau, H. M., Smit, J. H., Fleming, T. M., & Riper, H. (2017). Serious Games for Mental Health: Are They Accessible, Feasible, and Effective? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 7. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00209Parsons, S. (2016). Authenticity in Virtual Reality for assessment and intervention in autism: A conceptual review. Educational Research Review, 19, 138-157. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2016.08.001Den Brok, W. L. J. E., & Sterkenburg, P. S. (2014). Self-controlled technologies to support skill attainment in persons with an autism spectrum disorder and/or an intellectual disability: a systematic literature review. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 10(1), 1-10. doi:10.3109/17483107.2014.921248Ip, H. H. S., Wong, S. W. L., Chan, D. F. Y., Byrne, J., Li, C., Yuan, V. S. N., … Wong, J. Y. W. (2018). Enhance emotional and social adaptation skills for children with autism spectrum disorder: A virtual reality enabled approach. Computers & Education, 117, 1-15. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2017.09.010Chen, C.-H., Lee, I.-J., & Lin, L.-Y. (2016). Augmented reality-based video-modeling storybook of nonverbal facial cues for children with autism spectrum disorder to improve their perceptions and judgments of facial expressions and emotions. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 477-485. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.033Didehbani, N., Allen, T., Kandalaft, M., Krawczyk, D., & Chapman, S. (2016). Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training for children with high functioning autism. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 703-711. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.033Lorenzo, G., Lledó, A., Pomares, J., & Roig, R. (2016). Design and application of an immersive virtual reality system to enhance emotional skills for children with autism spectrum disorders. Computers & Education, 98, 192-205. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2016.03.018Wade, J., Zhang, L., Bian, D., Fan, J., Swanson, A., Weitlauf, A., … Sarkar, N. (2016). A Gaze-Contingent Adaptive Virtual Reality Driving Environment for Intervention in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems, 6(1), 1-23. doi:10.1145/2892636Ke, F., & Lee, S. (2015). Virtual reality based collaborative design by children with high-functioning autism: design-based flexibility, identity, and norm construction. Interactive Learning Environments, 24(7), 1511-1533. doi:10.1080/10494820.2015.1040421Chen, C.-H., Lee, I.-J., & Lin, L.-Y. (2015). Augmented reality-based self-facial modeling to promote the emotional expression and social skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 36, 396-403. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.015Cheng, Y., Huang, C.-L., & Yang, C.-S. (2015). Using a 3D Immersive Virtual Environment System to Enhance Social Understanding and Social Skills for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 30(4), 222-236. doi:10.1177/1088357615583473Kim, K., Rosenthal, M. Z., Gwaltney, M., Jarrold, W., Hatt, N., McIntyre, N., … Mundy, P. (2014). A Virtual Joy-Stick Study of Emotional Responses and Social Motivation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(12), 3891-3899. doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2036-7Parsons, S. (2015). Learning to work together: Designing a multi-user virtual reality game for social collaboration and perspective-taking for children with autism. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 6, 28-38. doi:10.1016/j.ijcci.2015.12.002Bai, Z., Blackwell, A. F., & Coulouris, G. (2015). Using Augmented Reality to Elicit Pretend Play for Children with Autism. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 21(5), 598-610. doi:10.1109/tvcg.2014.2385092Bekele, E., Crittendon, J., Zheng, Z., Swanson, A., Weitlauf, A., Warren, Z., & Sarkar, N. (2014). Assessing the Utility of a Virtual Environment for Enhancing Facial Affect Recognition in Adolescents with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(7), 1641-1650. doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2035-8Escobedo, L., Tentori, M., Quintana, E., Favela, J., & Garcia-Rosas, D. (2014). Using Augmented Reality to Help Children with Autism Stay Focused. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 13(1), 38-46. doi:10.1109/mprv.2014.19Finkelstein, S., Barnes, T., Wartell, Z., & Suma, E. A. (2013). Evaluation of the exertion and motivation factors of a virtual reality exercise game for children with autism. 2013 1st Workshop on Virtual and Augmented Assistive Technology (VAAT). doi:10.1109/vaat.2013.6786186Maskey, M., Lowry, J., Rodgers, J., McConachie, H., & Parr, J. R. (2014). Reducing Specific Phobia/Fear in Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) through a Virtual Reality Environment Intervention. PLoS ONE, 9(7), e100374. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100374Stichter, J. P., Laffey, J., Galyen, K., & Herzog, M. (2013). iSocial: Delivering the Social Competence Intervention for Adolescents (SCI-A) in a 3D Virtual Learning Environment for Youth with High Functioning Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(2), 417-430. doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1881-0Bekele, E., Zheng, Z., Swanson, A., Crittendon, J., Warren, Z., & Sarkar, N. (2013). Understanding How Adolescents with Autism Respond to Facial Expressions in Virtual Reality Environments. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 19(4), 711-720. doi:10.1109/tvcg.2013.42Cai, Y., Chia, N. K. H., Thalmann, D., Kee, N. K. N., Zheng, J., & Thalmann, N. M. (2013). Design and Development of a Virtual Dolphinarium for Children With Autism. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 21(2), 208-217. doi:10.1109/tnsre.2013.2240700Ke, F., & Im, T. (2013). Virtual-Reality-Based Social Interaction Training for Children with High-Functioning Autism. The Journal of Educational Research, 106(6), 441-461. doi:10.1080/00220671.2013.832999Lorenzo, G., Pomares, J., & Lledó, A. (2013). Inclusion of immersive virtual learning environments and visual control systems to support the learning of students with Asperger syndrome. Computers & Education, 62, 88-101. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.028Modugumudi, Y. R., Santhosh, J., & Anand, S. (2013). Efficacy of Collaborative Virtual Environment Intervention Programs in Emotion Expression of Children with Autism. Journal of Medical Imaging and Health Informatics, 3(2), 321-325. doi:10.1166/jmihi.2013.1167Wang, M., & Reid, D. (2013). Using the Virtual Reality-Cognitive Rehabilitation Approach to Improve Contextual Processing in Children with Autism. The Scientific World Journal, 2013, 1-9. doi:10.1155/2013/716890Milne, M., Luerssen, M. H., Lewis, T. W., Leibbrandt, R. E., & Powers, D. M. W. (2010). Development of a virtual agent based social tutor for children with autism spectrum disorders. The 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN). doi:10.1109/ijcnn.2010.5596584Loomes, R., Hull, L., & Mandy, W. P. L. (2017). What Is the Male-to-Female Ratio in Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(6), 466-474. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2017.03.013Mesa-Gresa, P., Lozano, J. A., Llórens, R., Alcañiz, M., Navarro, M. D., & Noé, E. (2011). Clinical Validation of a Virtual Environment Test for Safe Street Crossing in the Assessment of Acquired Brain Injury Patients with and without Neglect. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 44-51. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23771-3_4Spreij, L. A., Visser-Meily, J. M. A., van Heugten, C. M., & Nijboer, T. C. W. (2014). Novel insights into the rehabilitation of memory post acquired brain injury: a systematic review. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00993Pietrzak, E., Pullman, S., & McGuire, A. (2014). 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Vol. 32, No. 1: Winter 2007

https://commons.und.edu/ndm-archive/1054/thumbnail.jp

Directional adposition use in English, Swedish and Finnish

Directional adpositions such as to the left of describe where a Figure is in relation to a Ground. English and Swedish directional adpositions refer to the location of a Figure in relation to a Ground, whether both are static or in motion. In contrast, the Finnish directional adpositions edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) solely describe the location of a moving Figure in relation to a moving Ground (Nikanne, 2003). When using directional adpositions, a frame of reference must be assumed for interpreting the meaning of directional adpositions. For example, the meaning of to the left of in English can be based on a relative (speaker or listener based) reference frame or an intrinsic (object based) reference frame (Levinson, 1996). When a Figure and a Ground are both in motion, it is possible for a Figure to be described as being behind or in front of the Ground, even if neither have intrinsic features. As shown by Walker (in preparation), there are good reasons to assume that in the latter case a motion based reference frame is involved. This means that if Finnish speakers would use edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) more frequently in situations where both the Figure and Ground are in motion, a difference in reference frame use between Finnish on one hand and English and Swedish on the other could be expected. We asked native English, Swedish and Finnish speakers’ to select adpositions from a language specific list to describe the location of a Figure relative to a Ground when both were shown to be moving on a computer screen. We were interested in any differences between Finnish, English and Swedish speakers. All languages showed a predominant use of directional spatial adpositions referring to the lexical concepts TO THE LEFT OF, TO THE RIGHT OF, ABOVE and BELOW. There were no differences between the languages in directional adpositions use or reference frame use, including reference frame use based on motion. We conclude that despite differences in the grammars of the languages involved, and potential differences in reference frame system use, the three languages investigated encode Figure location in relation to Ground location in a similar way when both are in motion. Levinson, S. C. (1996). Frames of reference and Molyneux’s question: Crosslingiuistic evidence. In P. Bloom, M.A. Peterson, L. Nadel & M.F. Garrett (Eds.) Language and Space (pp.109-170). Massachusetts: MIT Press. Nikanne, U. (2003). How Finnish postpositions see the axis system. In E. van der Zee & J. Slack (Eds.), Representing direction in language and space. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Walker, C. (in preparation). Motion encoding in language, the use of spatial locatives in a motion context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Lincoln, Lincoln. United Kingdo

A study of virtual reality-mediated affective state and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease

NeuroscienceLa démence de type d’Alzheimer est la plus commune des démences. Elle entraîne un déclin dans les capacités cognitives et fonctionnelles, se traduisant dans des difficultés au niveau de la prise de décision, de l’accomplissement de tâches quotidiennes, de la communication ainsi qu’au niveau de la mémoire et de l’attention. On remarque également une diminution de l’état émotionnel et une apathie chez ces patients. Ce mémoire explore une nouvelle approche pour atténuer les effets psychologiques et cognitifs de la maladie. Les recherches effectuées dans ce mémoire explorent les impacts cognitifs et les effets sur le bien-être d'une intervention utilisant la réalité virtuelle sur les personnes souffrant de déclin cognitif subjectif. Deux environnements virtuels ont été testés : le premier étant un environnement dans lequel le participant voyage en train à travers différents climats, et le second étant un environnement de musicothérapie qui s’adapte en fonction de la réponse émotionnelle du participant. Pour mesurer les impacts sur l'état affectif, des lectures électroencéphalographiques ont été prises et analysées afin de déduire l'émotion ressentie par le participant avant, pendant et après l'expérience. Les résultats montrent une amélioration générale de l'état émotionnel pour les deux environnements. Quant à la mesure des effets sur les fonctions cognitives, des tâches d'attention et de mémoire ont été effectuées par les participants avant et après l'immersion. Les résultats montrent une légère amélioration des capacités d'attention et une meilleure amélioration de la mémoire. Nous approprions cet écart dans l'expérience de musicothérapie à l'activation musicale d'un réseau de structures cérébrales impliquées dans les expériences agréables : le circuit de récompense. Nous proposons que la musique facilite la rétention de la mémoire chez les personnes souffrant de démence. En effet, les résultats de l’amélioration des fonctions cognitives pour les deux expériences précédentes dépendent fortement de la précision de l'outil de mesure cognitive utilisé pour évaluer les performances d'attention et de mémoire avant et après l'intervention. Pour assurer cette précision, ce mémoire présente un outil de mesure des performances cognitives basé sur des tâches cognitives qui ont montré à plusieurs reprises leur fiabilité. Cet outil d’adresse aux personnes atteintes de la maladie d'Alzheimer pré-clinique et diagnostiquée.Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible disease which causes progressive memory loss and cognitive decline, eventually leading to severe inability to perform basic day-to-day tasks. The urgency to find an effective cure to the disease is crucial, as the medical and economical spin-offs could be disastrous. The present thesis explores a novel approach to help attenuate the psychological and cognitive effects of the disease. The research carried out for this thesis explored cognitive effects and impacts on overall well-being of a virtual reality intervention on people suffering from subjective cognitive decline. Two virtual environments were tested: the first being an environment in which the participant travels through different climates by train, and the second being a music therapy environment modified as a function of emotional response. To measure the effects on affective state, electroencephalography readings were taken and analyzed to infer the emotion felt by the participant before, during the experiment. Results show a general improvement in emotional state. To measure the effects of the environments on cognitive functions, attention and memory tasks were carried out by the participants before and after the immersion. Results show a small improvement in attention skills and a more substantial improvement in memory skills. We appropriate this discrepancy in the music therapy experiment to the musical activation of a network of brain structures involved in rewarding and pleasurable experiences. We propose that music could facilitate memory retention in people sufferance for dementia. Importantly, the results of the previous experiments rely heavily on the accuracy of the cognitive measurement tool used to evaluate attention and memory performances before and after the intervention. To provide this accuracy, this thesis presents a cognitive performance measurement tool based on cognitive tasks which have repeatedly shown to output reliable results. This tool is created to serve for people with pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease and diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, this tool is designed in such a way as to minimize the effects of repetition as well as varying levels of education and language. This thesis presents a novel and promising research in the realms of computer sciences and health care

Virtual reality and behaviour management in paediatric dentistry: a systematic review

Background: Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as an innovative tool in medicine and dentistry, improving anxiety and pain management in children. The immersive and interactive environments of VR technology facilitate positive engagement of young patients during dental procedures via distraction, potentially reducing anxiety levels and improving treatment experience. The aim of this review was to provide current evidence-based guidance on the usage of VR in the clinical practice of paediatric dentistry. Methods: A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines with the following research question using the PICO format: Does VR (I) effectively manage anxiety and pain (O) during a paediatric dental consultation (P) compared to alternative behavioural control techniques (C)? PubMed/Medline®, SCOPUS and Web of Science databases were searched and analysed. Results: A total of 22 randomised control trials were included in this review. These studies have shown that VR is a highly effective method of behaviour management, successfully alleviating pain and anxiety in children during dental treatment, surpassing traditional tools. Selected studies included participants with a large age range and dental procedures varied greatly, from first consultations to infiltration of local anaesthetic and other invasive procedures. VR was mostly used during treatment delivery and different immersive VR techniques were considered. Behaviour, anxiety and pain scales were used to determine efficacy and patient satisfaction. Conclusions: VR offers an engaging and immersive experience, effectively diverting patients' attention away from the clinical environment, fostering a positive and enjoyable treatment experience. However, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of existing studies and the need for further research to enhance the understanding of VR's full potential in paediatric dentistry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio