Informatics Colloquium 17. 4. Virtual Reality Assessment for Examining Functional Neurological . . .
Informatics Colloquium 17. 4. 2018, 14:00 lecture hall D2
doc. Fotios Liarokapis, Ph.D., FI MU
Virtual Reality Assessment for Examining Functional Neurological Symptoms
Abstract: Functional neurological symptoms (FNS) are somatic symptoms that still
remain poorly understood. Their diagnosis is made by exclusion of organic cause
and therefore does not provide any specific cues for the subsequent treatment.
Virtual reality (VR) seems to be mature enough to be experimentally tested as a
potential therapeutic intervention for the functional neurological disorders.
Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of many physiological
functions primarily using instruments that provide information on the activity
of those same systems, with a goal of being able to manipulate them at will.
Some of the processes that can be controlled include brainwaves, muscle tone,
skin conductance, heart rate and pain perception.
This presentation will evaluate immersive virtual reality as a potential
therapeutic tool for a treatment of functional neurological symptoms. The first
part will examine the effects of immersive virtual reality intervention on
changes in autonomic arousal in FNS (in both healthy subjects and patients) by
introducing emotional stress. The effect of immersion manipulation on changes in
emotional reactivity to stress inducing stimuli is assessed by measuring skin
conductance and heart rate variability. The second part will examine how
biofeedback affects immersive virtual reality intervention on effective
connectivity patterns in patients with FNS.