Memories in Decay: 360º Spatio-Temporal Explorations of the Past

The present case study focuses on 'Memories in Decay' is a 360º immersive experience which explores what happens when the past meets the present using the cinematic medium of the future: omnidirectional video. This project is a VR documentary which does not only transport the immersant – the 'spectator' of an immersive experience – to the ruins of a long-forgotten place, but also balances between past and present, providing access to a different time through the use of oral histories and archive photos and documents. In the paper, the author not only discusses the potential of VR but how it affects tradicitonal cinema and its processes.   &nbsp

Exploring the Influence of Virtual Reality on Adults With Indications of Early Stage Dementia

Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to transport people to compelling worlds and bring positive spiritual benefits to persons with dementia and their caregivers. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand the influence of VR on participants with indications of early stage dementia. This study explored how five elderly participants in a Seattle-based Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) program experienced immersive virtual reality by means of a Windows Mixed Reality headset. Using an episode from the 2016 VR series, theBlu—a colorful and immersive underwater experience with soothing audio accompaniment—each participant spent up to one hour with the researcher viewing the VR content and engaging in a pre- and post- interview to discuss their spirituality and VR experience. The participants’ responses were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded from a spiritual care perspective, searching for moments of joy and connection. The six emerging themes included: connection to positive feelings, connection to beauty, connection to the present moment, connection to past memories, a desire for future engagement, and participant recommendations for VR content. The findings demonstrated that immersive VR offers the possibility for people to explore a myriad of exciting and awe-inspiring worlds, bringing beauty and peace while offering relational connection

Virtual Body Ownership Illusions for Mental Health: A Narrative Review.

Over the last 20 years, virtual reality (VR) has been widely used to promote mental health in populations presenting different clinical conditions. Mental health does not refer only to the absence of psychiatric disorders but to the absence of a wide range of clinical conditions that influence people\u2019s general and social well-being such as chronic pain, neurological disorders that lead to motor o perceptual impairments, psychological disorders that alter behaviour and social cognition, or physical conditions like eating disorders or present in amputees. It is known that an accurate perception of oneself and of the surrounding environment are both key elements to enjoy mental health and well-being, and that both can be distorted in patients suffering from the clinical conditions mentioned above. In the past few years, multiple studies have shown the effectiveness of VR to modulate such perceptual distortions of oneself and of the surrounding environment through virtual body ownership illusions. This narrative review aims to review clinical studies that have explored the manipulation of embodied virtual bodies in VR for improving mental health, and to discuss the current state of the art and the challenges for future research in the context of clinical care

Pasado, presente y futuro de la Realidad Virtual: análisis a partir de las variables tecnológica y de definición del término

Developments in Virtual Reality (VR) technology are currently arousing great scientific interest because in just a few years, VR has found its niche not only in the specialised public, but also in society in general and in different contexts, thanks to its many uses in different contexts and the decreasing price of VR viewing devices. To many, this technology may appear to be a novelty of the 21st century, but its origins go back several decades. Taking into account these aspects, this article aims to analyse the past and present of VR from two perspectives: one focused on its technological development and one on its conceptual evolution. This historical overview, in turn, will allow us to address the future applications of VR in different disciplines. The study provides the reader with an indepth analysis of VR that will contribute to the understanding of this technology and its uses.Hoy en día todo lo relacionado con la Realidad Virtual (RV) despierta un gran interés científico. Tal es así que en pocos años ha conseguido hacerse un hueco no solo entre el público especializado, sino también entre la sociedad en general, ya que, sus aplicaciones son muchas y en diferentes contextos. Este hecho ha sido posible en gran medida gracias al imparable desarrollo tecnológico y al abaratamiento de los dispositivos de visualización. Parecería, por tanto, que esta tecnología es una novedad del sigo XXI, pero lo cierto es que sus orígenes se remontan varias décadas en el pasado. Teniendo en cuenta estos aspectos, este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el pasado y el presente de la RV desde una doble perspectiva: la que tiene que ver, por una parte, con su desarrollo tecnológico y, por otra, con la definición del término. Dicho recorrido histórico, a su vez, permitirá abordar las perspectivas de futuro de la RV desde el punto de vista de sus aplicaciones dentro de diferentes disciplinas. Todo ello dotará al lector de una visión en profundidad acerca de la tecnología de la RV que servirá para comprender

Remote Sensing and Geovisualization of Rock Slopes and Landslides

Over the past two decades, advances in remote sensing methods and technology have enabled larger and more sophisticated datasets to be collected. Due to these advances, the need to effectively and efficiently communicate and visualize data is becoming increasingly important. We demonstrate that the use of mixed- (MR) and virtual reality (VR) systems has provided very promising results, allowing the visualization of complex datasets with unprecedented levels of detail and user experience. However, as of today, such visualization techniques have been largely used for communication purposes, and limited applications have been developed to allow for data processing and collection, particularly within the engineering–geology field. In this paper, we demonstrate the potential use of MR and VR not only for the visualization of multi-sensor remote sensing data but also for the collection and analysis of geological data. In this paper, we present a conceptual workflow showing the approach used for the processing of remote sensing datasets and the subsequent visualization using MR and VR headsets. We demonstrate the use of computer applications built in-house to visualize datasets and numerical modelling results, and to perform rock core logging (XRCoreShack) and rock mass characterization (EasyMineXR). While important limitations still exist in terms of hardware capabilities, portability, and accessibility, the expected technological advances and cost reduction will ensure this technology forms a standard mapping and data analysis tool for future engineers and geoscientists

Attitudes Toward and Familiarity With Virtual Reality Therapy Among Practicing Cognitive Behavior Therapists: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study in the Era of Consumer VR Platforms

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is an efficacious treatment for fear and anxiety and has the potential to solve both logistic issues for therapists and be used for scalable self-help interventions. However, VRET has yet to see large-scale implementation in clinical settings or as a consumer product, and past research suggests that while therapists may acknowledge the many advantages of VRET, they view the technology as technically inaccessible and expensive. We reasoned that after the 2016 release of several consumer virtual reality (VR) platforms and associated public acquaintance with VR, therapists’ concerns about VRET may have evolved. The present study surveyed attitudes toward and familiarity with VR and VRET among practicing cognitive behavior therapists (n = 185) attending a conference. Results showed that therapists had an overall positive attitude toward VRET (pros rated higher than cons) and viewed VR as applicable to conditions other than anxiety. Unlike in earlier research, high financial costs and technical difficulties were no longer top-rated negative aspects. Average negative attitude was a larger negative predictor of self-rated likelihood of future use than positive attitude was a positive predictor and partially mediated the positive association between VRET knowledge and likelihood of future use, suggesting that promotional efforts should focus on addressing concerns. We conclude that therapist’s attitudes toward VRET appear to have evolved in recent years, and no longer appear to constitute a major barrier to implementing the next generation of VR technology in regular clinical practice

The Past, Present, and Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality Research: A Network and Cluster Analysis of the Literature

[EN] The recent appearance of low cost virtual reality (VR) technologies - like the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive and the Sony PlayStation VR - and Mixed Reality Interfaces (MRITF) - like the Hololens - is attracting the attention of users and researchers suggesting it may be the next largest stepping stone in technological innovation. However, the history of VR technology is longer than it may seem: the concept of VR was formulated in the 1960s and the first commercial VR tools appeared in the late 1980s. For this reason, during the last 20 years, 100s of researchers explored the processes, effects, and applications of this technology producing 1000s of scientific papers. What is the outcome of this significant research work? This paper wants to provide an answer to this question by exploring, using advanced scientometric techniques, the existing research corpus in the field. We collected all the existent articles about VR in the Web of Science Core Collection scientific database, and the resultant dataset contained 21,667 records for VR and 9,944 for augmented reality (AR). The bibliographic record contained various fields, such as author, title, abstract, country, and all the references (needed for the citation analysis). The network and cluster analysis of the literature showed a composite panorama characterized by changes and evolutions over the time. Indeed, whether until 5 years ago, the main publication media on VR concerned both conference proceeding and journals, more recently journals constitute the main medium of communication. Similarly, if at first computer science was the leading research field, nowadays clinical areas have increased, as well as the number of countries involved in VR research. The present work discusses the evolution and changes over the time of the use of VR in the main areas of application with an emphasis on the future expected VR's capacities, increases and challenges. We conclude considering the disruptive contribution that VR/AR/MRITF will be able to get in scientific fields, as well in human communication and interaction, as already happened with the advent of mobile phones by increasing the use and the development of scientific applications (e.g., in clinical areas) and by modifying the social communication and interaction among people.Cipresso, P.; Chicchi-Giglioli, IA.; Alcañiz Raya, ML.; Riva, G. (2018). The Past, Present, and Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality Research: A Network and Cluster Analysis of the Literature. Frontiers in Psychology. 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02086S