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Using virtual reality to understand how we get around
Most people routinely navigate their environment―stepping over puddles, climbing stairs and so on―without giving the matter a second thought. Yet navigating personal space is a very complex activity. The brain must assemble information from a range of different sensory and motor systems, and process it with incredible speed.
Understanding how the human brain does this is the research focus of Dr. Jennifer Campos, a Scientist at Toronto Rehab. Specifically, Dr. Campos is studying how the brain integrates different sources of information, including the visual system, the muscles and joints, and the vestibular system (the part of the inner ear which senses acceleration and controls balance). Her findings shed new light on how the brain perceives and locates itself within its environment.
“For instance, we’ve found that under some circumstances, body-based cues actually trump vision in people’s perception of how far they have walked,” she says.
“My research has helped us learn what the healthy brain does with different sensory information. Our goal is to now use these findings to help rehabilitate people who have difficulty moving within their environment because of conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury or Parkinson’s disease.”
Earlier research in this area has tended to focus on a single sensory system, such as vision or the motor system.
In her studies, Dr. Campos makes extensive use of virtual reality―detailed, computer-generated simulations which place subjects “within” an artificial environment by surrounding them with visual, auditory and motion information. Long used by the military, airlines and amusement parks, the potential of virtual reality is now being recognized by rehabilitation researchers.
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Quick Biography
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Dr. Campos is a Scientist at Toronto Rehab where her research focus is on multi-sensory integration, perception-action coupling and visuomotor control. She also has a cross-appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. Her work makes extensive use of virtual reality to explore the interactive nature of perception and action, especially in relation to the rehabilitation of patients with locomotor challenges. Before joining Toronto Rehab, Dr. Campos served as a Research Team Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany. The author of numerous journal articles, she has won teaching and community service awards for her work. Dr. Campos holds a PhD in psychology, neuroscience and behavior from McMaster University, Canada.
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“Virtual reality is safe and it lets us do things we can’t do in the real world,” says Dr. Campos. “For instance, we can present subjects in a virtual environment with visual information that’s different from what their bodies are telling them. When they walk, we can subtly manipulate the visuals so that they move visually more or less than they physically have. Then we ask them how far they have moved. Their answer tells us whether they use visual cues or body information, or some combination of the two, to judge distance.”
In addition to her ongoing research, Dr. Campos is organizing research programs for Toronto Rehab’s unique new research facility called the Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory (CEAL). When it becomes fully operational in 2011, this lab will feature the world’s first hydraulic motion simulator that can mimic everyday environmental challenges faced by older people and those with disabling injury and illness.
Using a multitude of customizable testing environments, including virtual reality techniques, scientists will be able to create conditions such as real ice and snow, and different terrains and slopes, to safely and accurately measure the difficulties people encounter in the real world with a view to developing treatment modalities to offset or moderate these challenges.
The CEAL will be a hub for rehabilitation researchers from all over the world. “They will use the lab to answer questions about rehabilitation strategies and to test new assistive devices under different conditions,” explains Dr. Campos.
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