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THERE ARE FAR better reasons to don virtual reality helmets these days than to pulverize space monsters in a cyber shoot-’em-up. Increasingly, “VR” is being used by therapists to help people overcome phobias – from fear of flying to fear of spiders – or even to combat anorexia and bulimia. Now USC engineering researcher Albert “Skip” Rizzo has opened up a whole new area, using VR to diagnose and perhaps treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a condition that affects about 4 million children.
Rizzo and his team-members at the USC School of Engineering’s Integrated Media Systems Center have designed a virtual environment, much like an aircraft simulator, for assessing and rehabilitating schoolchildren with suspected ADHD.
One important goal is to find a way to measure inattentiveness apart from the often-related problem of hyperactivity. Doing so, Rizzo believes, might change today’s 8-to-1 boy-to-girl ratio in ADHD diagnosis.
Rizzo developed a 360-degree virtual classroom featuring desks, blackboards, a teacher and windows. The room can be programmed to hum with distractions. By tracking eyeball movements and other physical reactions, the researchers can figure out which distractions are most disruptive to any child while he or she undergoes a series of cognitive tests.
The technology may help doctors and psychologists more accurately diagnose the disorder and lessen their reliance on psychotropic drugs. Eventually, Rizzo envisions the ability to create customized therapy routines for each patient. After initial tests of the system using undiagnosed children, Rizzo last summer began clinical trials on 30 youngsters age 8 to 12, half of whom are ADHD sufferers.
“With two years of good, well-funded research, we will bring it to the point where it’s cost-effective for school systems, therapists and re-searchers,” Rizzo said in an August 14 Washington Post article on his research.
Applications by other researchers that borrow from Rizzo’s work may include virtual pain relief for burn and chemo-therapy patients and tools to teach the elderly how to perform daily tasks and navigate public spaces without getting hurt.
New Year’s Fire Worship Display
No, it wasn’t the final episode of “Survivor.” On August 21, in solemn ceremonies featuring hot coals, pungent sandalwood incense, flowers and plates of fresh fruit, a dozen Southlanders gathered to celebrate the Zoroastrian new year. Once the dominant faith of the Persian empire, today the sect numbers only 200,000 adherents worldwide. “It’s very intellectual, and in many ways it has a rationality of its own,” religion scholar Richard H. Dekmejian told the Los Angeles Times. The ancient monotheistic religion is rich with symbolism: the presence of God is represented by fire; water stands for perfection, milk for wisdom, flowers for immortality.
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