[WEB SITE] Neuromodulation helps rehabilitate patients after a stroke

How neuromodulation helps patients recover after a stroke.

 The neuromodulation methods can be brought to a new level and be effectively used in clinical practice only by taking these criteria into account. (Photo: Representational/Pixabay)

Washington: The current approach used for brain stimulation to rehabilitate patients after a stroke does not look into the diversity of lesions and the individual characteristics of the brains of patients, finds a recent study.

The study was published in the journal ‘Frontiers in Neurology’. In recent decades, non-invasive neuromodulation methods such as electric and magnetic stimulation of various parts of the nervous system have been increasingly used to rehabilitate patients after a stroke.

Stimulation selectively affects different parts of the brain, which allows you to functionally enhance activity in some areas while suppressing unwanted processes in others that impede the restoration of brain functions.

This is a promising mean of rehabilitation after a stroke. However, its results in patients remain highly variable. The study authors argued that the main reason for the lack of effectiveness in neuromodulation approaches after a stroke is an inadequate selection of patients for the application of a particular brain stimulation technique.

According to the authors, the existing approach does not take into account the diversity of lesions after a stroke and the variability of individual responses to brain stimulation as a whole. Researchers proposed two criteria for selecting the optimal brain stimulation strategy. The first is an analysis of the interactions between the hemispheres.

Now, all patients, regardless of the severity of injury after a stroke, are offered a relatively standard treatment regimen. This approach relied on the idea of inter-hemispheric competition.

“For a long time, it was believed that when one hemisphere is bad, the second, instead of helping it, suppress it even more,’ explained Maria Nazarova, one of the authors of the article.

“In this regard, the suppression of the activity of the ‘unaffected’ hemisphere should help restore the affected side of the brain. However, the fact is that this particular scheme does not work in many patients after a stroke. Each time it is necessary to check what the impact of the unaffected hemisphere is, whether it is suppressive or activating,” said Nazarova.

The second criterion is the neuronal phenotype. This is an individual characteristic of the activity of the brain, which is ‘unique to each person like their fingerprints’. Such a phenotype is determined, firstly, by the ability of the brain to build effective structural and functional connections between different areas (connectivity).

Secondly, the individual characteristics of neuronal dynamics. This is the state of the neuronal system in which it is the most plastic and capable of change. The neuromodulation methods can be brought to a new level and be effectively used in clinical practice only by taking these criteria into account.

 

via Neuromodulation helps rehabilitate patients after a stroke

[NEWS] Researchers propose new approach for post-stroke rehabilitation

The existing approach for brain stimulation to rehabilitate patients after a stroke does not take into account the diversity of lesions and the individual characteristics of patients’ brains, a study has found.

In recent decades, non-invasive neuromodulation methods such as electric and magnetic stimulation of various parts of the nervous system have been increasingly used to rehabilitate patients after a stroke.

Stimulation selectively affects different parts of the brain, which allows you to functionally enhance activity in some areas while suppressing unwanted processes in others that impede the restoration of brain functions.

This is a promising mean of rehabilitation after a stroke. However, its results in patients remain highly variable.

Authors of the study, which was published in the journal ‘Frontiers in Neurology’, argued that the main reason for the lack of effectiveness in neuromodulation approaches after a stroke is an inadequate selection of patients for the application of a particular brain stimulation technique.

They said the existing approach does not take into account the diversity of lesions after a stroke and the variability of individual responses to brain stimulation as a whole.

The researchers have proposed two criteria for selecting the optimal brain stimulation strategy.

The first is an analysis of the interactions between the hemispheres. Now, all patients, regardless of the severity of injury after a stroke, are offered a relatively standard treatment regimen. This approach relies on the idea of interhemispheric competition.

“For a long time, it was believed that when one hemisphere is bad, the second, instead of helping it, suppresses it even more,” said

Maria Nazarova, researcher at the HSE Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences.

“In this regard, the suppression of the activity of the “unaffected” hemisphere should help restore the affected side of the brain. However, the fact is that this particular scheme does not work in many patients after a stroke. Each time it is necessary to check what the impact of the unaffected hemisphere is — whether it is suppressive or activating,” she said.

According to the researchers, the second criterion is the neuronal phenotype.

This is an individual characteristic of the activity of the brain, which is ‘unique to each person like their fingerprints’.

Such a phenotype is determined, firstly, by the ability of the brain to build effective structural and functional connections between different areas (connectivity).

Secondly, the individual characteristics of neuronal dynamics, including its ability to reach a critical state. This is the state of the neuronal system in which it is the most plastic and capable of change.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.

First Published: Fri, June 28 2019. 15:20 IST

 

via Researchers propose new approach for post-stroke rehabilitation | Business Standard News

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	Small diameter item: pen, make-up, toothbrush	Small Item gripping aid
	Adaptive tricycle/children’s walking frame	General Purpose Mini aid (for children under 5) or General Purpose gripping aid
Missing fingersMissing parts of hands This may include people with dysmelia (conditions from birth), or amputation, illness or injury later in life.	Gym equipment	General Purpose gripping aid D-ring gripping aids Looped exercise aids
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	Kitchen implements	Limb Difference gripping aid
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[ARTICLE] Increased Sensorimotor Cortex Activation With Decreased Motor Performance During Functional Upper Extremity Tasks Poststroke – Full Text

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Current literature has focused on identifying neuroplastic changes associated with stroke through tasks and in positions that are not representative of functional rehabilitation. Emerging technologies such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provide new methods of expanding the area of neuroplasticity within rehabilitation. This study determined the differences in sensorimotor cortex activation during unrestrained reaching and gripping after stroke.

Methods: Eleven individuals with chronic stroke and 11 neurologically healthy individuals completed reaching and gripping tasks under 3 conditions using their (1) stronger, (2) weaker, and (3) both arms together. Performance and sensorimotor cortex activation using fNIRS were collected. Group and arm differences were calculated using mixed analysis of covariance (covariate: age). Pairwise comparisons were used for post hoc analyses. Partial Pearson correlations between performance and activation were assessed for each task, group, and hemisphere.

Results: Larger sensorimotor activations in the ipsilesional hemisphere were found for the stroke compared with healthy group for reaching and gripping conditions despite poorer performance. Significant correlations were observed between gripping performance (with the weaker arm and both arms simultaneously) and sensorimotor activation for the stroke group only.

Discussion and Conclusions: Stroke leads to significantly larger sensorimotor activation during functional reaching and gripping despite poorer performance. This may indicate an increased sense of effort, decreased efficiency, or increased difficulty after stroke. fNIRS can be used for assessing differences in brain activation during movements in functional positions after stroke. This can be a promising tool for investigating possible neuroplastic changes associated with functional rehabilitation interventions in the stroke population.

Video Abstract available for more insights from the authors (see Video Abstract, Supplemental Digital Content 1, available at: http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A269).

 

INTRODUCTION

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in Canada, with approximately 405 000 Canadians currently living with its long-lasting effects.¹ While the site of injury and the specific presentation of symptoms are heterogeneous, up to 70% of these individuals experience upper extremity hemiparesis,² and even after rehabilitation, greater than 65% of this population have difficulty utilizing their affected limb in activities of daily living.³ Decreased use of the paretic arm can lead to chronic pain and weakness, decreased bone density,⁴ cerebral cortex changes,⁵and an overall decrease in quality of life.⁶ In addition, stroke rehabilitation and continual care are costly for the health care system.⁷ Therefore, it is important to maximize patient recovery in an effective and efficient manner.

One area that has been highly debated for rehabilitation efficacy is the side of arm training. Numerous reviews have stated conflicting and inconclusive results pertaining to benefits of the paretic (affected) arm or bilateral arm training^8–10 and a few studies have recently investigated the effects of the nonparetic (less-affected) arm training.^11,12 Investigating how stroke itself affects neural activation during unilateral and bilateral upper extremity activities may help explain the mechanisms underlying such training.

In individuals living with the chronic effects of stroke, nonnormal brain activation is commonly seen with irregular activation in both the ipsi- and contralesional hemispheres during movement. A meta-analysis of 20 studies¹³ calculated increases in contralesional primary motor cortex, and bilateral premotor and supplementary motor areas with use of the paretic hand compared with healthy individuals. Systematically reviewing 22 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography studies, Buma et al¹⁴ reported general initial increases in contra-, ipsi-, and perilesional activation during paretic upper extremity movement in individuals with cortical and subcortical strokes when compared with healthy adults. In addition, as paretic arm performance increased with training, these authors also showed that in many, but not all participants, activation decreased in areas such as the contralesional motor cortex (ie, ipsilateral to the movement arm), which is not typically activated in healthy individuals. Previous reviews have also reported increases in cortical activation of motor supporting areas (bilateral premotor and supplementary motor areas) later in recovery that are associated with greater function,¹⁵ although the opposite has also been reported.¹⁶

The majority of previously mentioned evidence utilized neuroimaging techniques that require an individual to remain fairly still, especially at the head, and recorded in the supine position. While there are many advantages to these techniques, such as high spatial resolution and penetration depth using fMRI, the functional imaging data acquired from these studies may not be truly indicative of the neural correlates involved during rehabilitation tasks. Thus, assessment of brain activation during upright, unrestrained, functional tasks is needed. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging neuroimaging device that has the capabilities of determining cortical activation while the participant is mobile. Similar to fMRI, fNIRS is an indirect measure of cortical activation that utilizes the neurovascular coupling theory to estimate changes in brain activity.¹⁷ Near-infrared light emitted by this device is absorbed by areas high in oxyhemoglobin or deoxyhemoglobin content and is measured through detectors placed on the individual’s head. When an increase in brain activity occurs, a typical overall increase in oxyhemoglobin concentration and a slight decrease in deoxyhemoglobin are observed.¹⁷ Due to its portability, fNIRS has been used to investigate cortical activation during various mobile tasks after stroke.^18,19 To our knowledge, no work has been done to compare sensorimotor cortex activation of paretic, nonparetic, and bilateral arm movements poststroke using fNIRS.

Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate differences in cortical brain activation during performance of upper extremity activities in an upright position after stroke and in neurologically healthy individuals. Based on the current evidence, we hypothesized that greater sensorimotor cortex activation would be observed in the stroke group compared with the neurologically healthy group, particularly when using the weaker arm. For our secondary measures, we hypothesize that (1) individuals in the stroke group will perform worse than the control group when using their weaker arm and (2) cortical activation in the contralateral hemisphere (eg, ipsilesional hemisphere during paretic arm movements) will positively correlate with task performance.[…]

Continue —->  Increased Sensorimotor Cortex Activation With Decreased Moto… : Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy

Figure 1
(A) Schematic of the environmental setup for the reaching task. Two adjacent Box and Block sets were placed in front of the participant. The left box was for the left hand and the right box was for the right hand. Arrows indicate the movement of the blocks from the box closest to the participant to the box further in front of the participant. (B) Schematic of the optode placements with reference to the international 10/10 system. Source probes are indicated by black circles and detector probes are indicated by gray circles.
Source
Increased Sensorimotor Cortex Activation With Decreased Motor Performance During Functional Upper Extremity Tasks Poststroke
Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy43(3):141-150, July 2019.

[Abstract + References] Improving Motivation in Wrist Rehabilitation Therapies – Conference paper

Abstract

Rehabilitation encompasses a wide variety of activities aimed at reducing the impact of injuries and disabilities by applying different exercises. Frequently, such exercises are carried out at home as a repetition of the same movements or tasks to achieve both motor learning and the necessary cortical changes. Although this increases the patients’ available time for rehabilitation, it may also have some unpleasant side effects. That occurs because carrying out repetitive exercises in a more isolated environment may result in a boring activity that leads patients to give up their rehabilitation. Therefore, patients’ motivation should be considered an essential feature while designing rehabilitation exercises. In this paper, we present how we have faced this need by exploiting novel technology to guide patients in their rehabilitation process. It includes a game crafted to make recovery funny and useful, at the same time. The game and the use we made of the specific hardware follow the recommendations and good practices provided by medical experts.

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via Improving Motivation in Wrist Rehabilitation Therapies | SpringerLink

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via Achieve Dramatic Foot-Drop Relief with X-Strap Systems | Lower Extremity Review Magazine

[NEWS] New Gaming Platform Aims to Use Virtual Rehab to Help Stroke Survivors

Researchers at UK-based University of East Anglia (UEA), in collaboration with Evolv Rehabilitation Technologies, have created a new virtual reality (VR) gaming platform designed to help improve the lives of stroke patients suffering from complex neurological syndromes caused by their stroke.

The new technology, which has been funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), was recently unveiled at RehabWeek in Toronto.

Around 30% to 50% of stroke survivors experience Œhemispatial neglect, which leaves people unaware of things located on one side of their body and greatly reduces their ability to live independently.

“A stroke can damage the brain, so that it no longer receives information about the space around one side of the world,” lead researcher Dr Stephanie Rossit, from UEA’s school of Psychology, explains in a media release from UEA.

“If this happens, people may not be aware of anything on one side, usually the same side they also lost their movement. This is called hemispatial neglect.

“These people tend to have very poor recovery and are left with long-term disability. Patients with this condition tell us that it is terrifying. They bump into things, they’re scared to use a wheelchair, so it really is very severe and life-changing.”

Current rehabilitation treatments involve different types of visual and physical coordination tasks (visuomotor) and cognitive exercises, ­ many of which are Œpaper and pen-based.

The new non-immersive VR technology being showcased updates these paper and pen tasks for the digital age – using videogame technology instead, per the release.

“We know that adherence is key to recovery – so we wanted to create something that makes it fun to stick to a rehabilitation task,” Roissit adds.

In one such game, the patient sees a random series of apples, some complete and some with a piece bitten off. The apples vibrate and move to provide greater stimulation to the patient.

“The aim for the patient is to choose the maximum number of complete apples that they see in the quickest time possible,” states David Fried, CEO of Evolv.

“A person with visual neglect would quite often only see a small number of correct targets to the right-hand side of the screen. Therapists can control the complexity of the game by increasing or reducing the number of apples on screen.”

As well as aiding diagnosis, the new game aims to improve rehabilitation by including elements such as scoring and rewards to engage the patient and improve adherence to their treatment.

Fried said: “Traditional rehabilitation treatment is quite monotonous and boring, so this gamification aspect is really important to help people stick with their treatment,” Fried adds.

“Our goal is to use technology to make rehabilitation fun and engaging, and we have applied this to our Spatial Neglect therapy solution. The great thing about it is that it can be used not only in clinics but also in patients’ homes, thereby giving them access to personalized rehabilitation without leaving their living room.”

The team has previously worked with stroke survivors, carers, and clinicians to assess the feasibility, usability, and acceptability of new gaming technology, per the release.

Dr Rossit said: ³This technology has the potential to improve both independence and quality of life of stroke survivors,” Rossit shares.

“This innovative therapy could also improve long-term care after stroke by providing a low-cost, enjoyable therapy that can be self-administered anywhere and anytime, without the need for a therapist to be present on every occasion.”

[Source: University of East Anglia]

 

via New Gaming Platform Aims to Use Virtual Rehab to Help Stroke Survivors – Rehab Managment

[NEWS] NEOFECT Wins Design Week VirtualTech Award for Second Year In a Row

NEOFECT was once again honored at the San Francisco Design Week (SFDW) Awards, winning the VirtualTech award for its new Smart Board for Home NextGen, a gamified rehabilitation device for stroke survivors to use at home.

This marks the second consecutive year that the company has received the VirtualTech award, according to a company announcement.

“The Smart Board for Home NextGen is the epitome of the 2019 SFDW Awards theme, and we’re humbled to have won this year after receiving Honorable Mention in the VirtualTech category last year for our Smart Glove for Home,” says Scott Kim, co-founder and CEO of NEOFECT USA, in the release.

“We took every aspect of the patient experience into account when redesigning the Smart Board for Home NextGen,” Kim adds.

“For example, stroke patients’ grip is often weak, so we re-engineered the handle to be more secure. We developed more interactive virtual reality games, like tennis, so patients can have more variety, and also created a dual-player option.”

SFDW is an international design competition that honors projects encouraging thought leadership in design, focusing on “Where Innovation Meets Social Responsibility.”

The awards celebrate and recognize exemplary work in all fields of design, including architecture, interior design, industrial design, communication design, and user experience design.

Twenty-four winning projects and 11 honorable mentions were selected by a jury comprised of professionals—including executives from Lyft, Google, Microsoft, and Fitbit—who reviewed submissions from a pool of applicants from the USA and Europe. Each winning project was judged based on impact, singularity, inclusiveness, social responsibility, ease of use, visual appeal, and feasibility.

Award winners from leading design firms, in-house teams, and creative individuals were honored recently during a ceremony that took place at Pier 27 in San Francisco, the release explains.

“We are extremely excited the San Francisco Design Week Awards returned this year,” states SFDW Executive Director Dawn Zidonis.

“As with last year, the quality of the many entries exceeded our expectations. Congratulations to this year’s outstanding and diverse winners, including NEOFECT.”

[Source(s): NEOFECT, Business Wire]

 

via NEOFECT Wins Design Week VirtualTech Award for Second Year In a Row – Rehab Managment

[BLOG POST] One Is The Loneliest Number – after TBI Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor

By Bill Herrin

One of the most unsettling things I see in the TBI community is when survivors feel isolated and lonely. There have been heart-wrenching posts and comments on our blog site about families that shun (or brush off) their own family members that have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Worse yet, I’ve heard people say that they are totally on their own because they just don’t have emotional support from family (or friends). There is no way that I can offer a solution that will work for everybody – for that matter, even for one survivor…but I’m gonna try to give some pointers that can alleviate some of the frustration and hurt that’s caused by loneliness and the things that can make it feel even worse.

It’s hard work

The very first thing I’ve recognized as the rallying cry of survivors is “you don’t know it unless you’ve experienced it” – and that surely is true. Letting people know how your brain injury feels is like describing the color and texture of an abstract painting to a blind person. They have no point of reference to even work with.  To many, the conditions, effects, and feelings experienced by a TBI survivor are inexplicable in words…although some are able to do it. I will be referencing a book offered by Lash & Associates Publishing to help find ways to combat the depression and anxiety that survivors experience, to find ways to cope, and to encourage caregivers as well.

In the book titled “Lost & Found” – a brain injury survivor herself, offers these succinct nuggets of wisdom:  “Healing and rehabilitating from a brain injury takes a long time. It continues long after formal rehabilitation has ended. It is the hardest work I have ever done. It requires endless courage, determination, motivation, and
support. It usually involves rebuilding multiple areas of not just your life but also your being – all at once. How could there be an easy solution for all of that!

Brain injury doesn’t have to be a destination. It is a journey. Let it be only part of who you are to become. “Don’t accept timetables for recovery.”

— Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., Neuroanatomist

The Key is Incremental Strategy

Strategies are key in making “baby steps” toward better cognition, a better mood, a better outlook, and a better life. Much progress can be made with encouragement from friends or family…but what about those that don’t have that kind of social “safety net”? Be encouraged. Your will to improve is the key to doing the right things and working to get the right results. As always, there will be naysayers that will immediately point out that “you’ve been this way for a long time” or “you’re wasting your time.” Well, with that kind of encouragement, you’ll be better off doing your best – one step forward at a time. Don’t even consider the steps backward…life hands those to everyone anyway!

Incremental strategies are the ticket to incremental change. Biting off more than you can chew is not a good plan! Start off small, find strategies that work for YOU, and repetition is a good thing. If you’re repeating a step, and you know that you are…that’s a great thing! If you recall how your brain used to process information, but you realize that it has changed…good for you! That is a baseline for working on your cognition. Remember, working in tandem with your doctors, therapists, caregivers, etc. is also very important. You’re not going to make measurable progress without someone that can see your “mile markers” and take note of them. Caregivers can also help with that.

Here’s an excerpt from Lost & Found that is a prime example of working toward healing: “Know that in time, as you heal, it won’t always be this hard. You won’t have to plan and strategize each and every little step you take. So remember you are healing, imagine yourself with a cast on your head and be kind to yourself. Treat yourself like you would any loved one with a serious health issue.

Remember to reward yourself for every successful task and effort, no matter how small. Pat yourself on the back and take a break doing something that will make you smile. We have to be our own cheerleaders now, like the supportive people in our lives were when we were growing up.”

Wow…that’s powerful, but also takes grit and determination. Believing in yourself is always easier when you have cheerleaders – but for those who don’t, that excerpt makes a lot of sense.

Believe.

Emotional healing can come through a combination of things – here are a few (a more detailed version is available in the book, Lost & Found), but here’s a brief overview… Keep a grateful journal or victory log; Discover your “inner poet” by writing phrases that are meaningful to you; Journaling about your day can help you build confidence and see progress; Keep your perspective by noting improvements on a calendar; Challenge and learn from negative thoughts; Take time to smile; Forgive yourself – can’t do what you used to do? You’re only human! Remember that you’re still the same unique and valuable person that you always were; Try to have positive people around you…that supports your life moving in a positive direction; Work with art. Creative outlets are rewarding and fun. These are things that encourage and grow you as a person – with or without others’ approval.

Many times, people in your life are grieving the loss of the “old you” and trying to establish how to interact with the “new you” – just like you are. That can also make an awkward transition for family and friends. Seeking spiritual counsel can be a huge boost as well – if you attend a church, synagogue, etc., or want to…that could be a great way to grow your positivity in life and make some new acquaintances too.

Here’s another excerpt from Lost & Found:  “Keep in mind that your family members and friends may be grieving too. They have lost the person you used to be and the roles you used to play in their lives. They don’t know how much of your former self will return, or when.”

And a quote from the same book: “Honoring your feelings is what helps you move beyond the pain.”

— Janelle Breese-Biagioni

This last excerpt from the book really sums up what so many TBI survivors need to hear…

“Remember you are healing, even if you can’t see a wound! Think of your brain in a cast, as it would be if you broke any other part of your body. If you broke your leg, you wouldn’t expect yourself to run a marathon right away, even if you were previously a marathon runner. First, you would be in a cast and you would rest a lot. Then you would start walking with crutches on even surfaces. The next step might be walking with a cane. You get the idea; it would take a lot of healing before you could run again, never mind run a marathon! Most of us try to run marathons with our brains all the time!

You won’t be able to do everything you used to, at least not right away. Everything will be harder and take a lot longer to do than it used to. You can compensate by cutting back, simplifying and being kind and patient with yourself. Avoid the tendency to push yourself too hard. Rehabilitation is a delicate balance between challenging yourself enough to promote healing and not so much that you have discouraging setbacks.

So picture yourself with a cast on your head and remember to rest, celebrate the smallest gains and balance out all the hard work with something that makes you smile, every day. You are engaged in one of the toughest challenges of your life, if not the hardest but it will get easier in time.”

Root for the Home Team…YOU!

In closing, the hardest takeaway from all this is that “going it alone” is hard but doing it without positive people surrounding you may be even harder. Cheerleaders are great, but they have to be rooting for the home team…and you’re the captain of the home team! Make the best choices that you possibly can and be encouraged – knowing that if all else doesn’t go as planned, you can rely on yourself to try and make things better. And you can also claim all of the credit. As always, be sure to let your doctor(s) know your intentions, and hopefully, they’ll be excited for your long-term efforts to improve. TBI is tiring, overloading, depressing at times, and can cause irrational behavior. With all that said, there’s always room to plan for incremental change.

Here’s a great and inspirational quote from Beverly Bryant:

“Being a brain injury survivor = Being a stranger in a familiar place.”

Amen to that!

 

If you’d like to know more about the Lash & Associates book titled “Lost & Found”…just click this link!

via One Is The Loneliest Number – after TBI Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor

[Abstract] Difficulty Factors for VR Cognitive Rehabilitation Training – Crossing a Virtual Road

Highlights

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Immersive VR environment for the training of safe road crossing decisions.

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Relevant Lanes and Traffic Speed have a clear influence on task difficulty.

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No clear influence could be found for the Gap Size.

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The Number of Vehicles had almost no effect on the perceived task difficulty.

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Two neuropsychologists stated that the system is ready for a study on patients.

 

Abstract

Patients with cognitive or visual impairments have problems in dealing with complex situations. During the rehabilitation process, it is important to confront the patient with (everyday) tasks that have increasing degrees of difficulty to improve their performance. Immersive virtual reality training offers the potential to create a better transfer to daily life than non-immersive computer training. In cooperation with two neuropsychologists, an immersive virtual environment (VE) was developed in which cognitive training in the form of safe road crossing decisions can be performed. We present the experimental exploration and evaluation of difficulty factors within such a VR-based cognitive rehabilitation program. Four difficulty factors were identified and compared (number of relevant traffic lanes, speed of vehicles, distance between vehicles, and number of vehicles). The combination of these difficulty factors resulted in 36 training scenarios. The impact of the factors on participant performance and subjective perception of scenario difficulty were evaluated with 60 healthy participants to estimate the impact of the four factors to a situation’s difficulty level. For the factors Relevant Lanes and Traffic Speed a clear influence on the perceived task difficulty could be determined. No clear influence could be found for the Gap Size. The Number of Vehicles had almost no effect on the perceived task difficulty. Finally, we asked two experienced neuropsychologists about the applicability of our developed system to patients, and they stated that the system is ready for a study on patients.

Graphical abstract

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via Difficulty Factors for VR Cognitive Rehabilitation Training – Crossing a Virtual Road – ScienceDirect