Projects

Virtual environments navigation assessment (VIENNA) and VIENNA Young

Sophia Rekers, M.Sc; Prof. Carsten Finke

Collaborators:

  • AG Paul; NCRC & Dept. of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • AG Peters; Dept. of Psychiatry, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • AG Prüß; Dept. of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Intuitive and quick to administer paradigm using virtual hallways to assess spatial navigation in middle aged to elderly (VIENNA) and young to middle aged (VIENNA Young) participants. It is used in patients with varying neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and autoimmune encephalitis.

The entire spatial navigation assessment takes about 15 min to administer and is freely available for researchers and clinicians at the Open Science Framework: VIENNA & VIENNA Young.

Indicate the door that the character chooses.

PAN-Assistant

Sophia Rekers, M.Sc; Prof. Carsten Finke

Collaborators:

  • P.A.N. Zentrum für Post-Akute Neurorehabilitation
  • Intelligent and Interactive Systems Lab, Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology
  • ART+COM Research
  • Ascora GmbH

The PAN-Assistant project aims to develop a specialized navigation training system for post-acute neurorehabilitation patients with severe cognitive impairments. The project team comprises industry, academic, and clinical partners to design, develop, and implement an assistance system for navigation training in various areas, including the living environment, therapy spaces, and immediate surroundings of the PAN rehabilitation center.

Through a participatory approach, the project involves rehabilitants, their treatment team, and support network, aiming to create an environment-based digital training tool for therapeutic use by individuals with severe cognitive impairments. The goal is to complement the time-consuming and personnel-intensive orientation and navigation training in individual therapeutic care by a system that provides a safe and adaptable virtual path and orientation training. PAN-Assistant is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF grant , https://www.pan-assistant/).

The Berlin-Zoo-Task

Dr. Deetje Iggena; Patrizia Maier, M.Sc; Prof. Carsten Finke; Prof. Christoph Ploner

Collaborators:

The Berlin-Zoo-Task is an engaging virtual reality 360°-video game. Participants have to orient themselves within 360°-videos and indicate the direction of target locations by pointing with the VR controller. Currently, we use the Berlin-Zoo-Task to investigate spatial memory representations and how they evolve over longer periods of time. Our project is funded by the DFG as part of CRC1315 (https://www.sfb1315.de/research/b05/).

The (mobile) virtual Water-Maze

Dr. Deetje Iggena, Patrizia Maier, M.Sc; Prof. Carsten Finke; Prof. Christoph Ploner

Collaborators:

The virtual Water-Maze is a desktop as well as mobile virtual reality game to assess spatial memory. Participants have to memorize target locations within a fog-filled circular arena. Currently, we use the virtual Water-Maze to investigate how multisensory input modulates spatial navigation in healthy participants and patients with hippocampal impairment. Our project is funded by the DFG as part of CRC1315 (https://www.sfb1315.de/research/b05/).

The Starmaze

Patrizia Maier, M.Sc; Dr. Deetje Iggena; Prof. Carsten Finke; Prof. Christoph Ploner

The Starmaze is a set of desktop-based virtual reality games to assess spatial memory and navigation strategies (based on Iglói et al., 2010; Rondi-Reig et al., 2006). Participants navigate with a joystick and memorize various target locations. We use these tasks to investigate spatial memory consolidation in participants undergoing general anesthesia, in children and neurological patients. Our project is funded by the DFG as part of the CRC1315 (https://www.sfb1315.de/research/b05/).

VReha – Virtual realities for digital diagnostics and cognitive rehabilitation

Dr. Stephan Krohn; Sophie Kray-Niemczyk; Prof. Carsten Finke

Collaborators:

  • Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (Berlin, Dipl.-Psych. Paul Chojecki)
  • Institute for Cognitive Neurology (Leipzig, Dr. Angelika Thöne-Otto)
  • Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig, Dr. Michael Gaebler)
  • HASOMED GmbH (Magdeburg, Dipl.-Ing. Bert Vehmeier)
  • AG Peters; Dept. of Psychiatry, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • AG Prüß; Dept. of Neurology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

The VReha consortium develops immersive Virtual Reality applications for the diagnosis and rehabilitation of cognitive deficits. In this interdisciplinary team, we have created the immersive Virtual Memory Task (imVMT) – a gesture-controlled 3D visuospatial memory task, in which participants are asked to memorize and reconstruct the location of everyday objects on a table within a virtual household setting. This paradigm has won the demo award at the 2019 International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation in Tel Aviv (https://virtual-rehab.org/2019/) and is currently evaluated in patients with prodromal Alzheimer’s Disease (in collaboration with AG Prof. Peters) and patients with autoimmune encephalitis (in collaboration with AG Prof. Prüß). VReha is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF grant 13GW0206, https://www.vreha-project.com/).

Immersive Virtual Memory Task (imVMT)

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Immersive Virtual Reality Treatment within a Neuro Palliative Care Unit

Annalisa Bozem, M.Sc; Dr. Sarah Herwest, Prof. Carsten Finke, Prof. Christoph Ploner

Collaborators:

We aim to assess the feasibility and acceptance of an immersive Virtual Reality intervention among patients receiving neuro-palliative care, evaluating its potential to alleviate symptom burden without significant side effects. In a 20-minute Virtual Reality Treatment, patients engage in exploring different landscapes and/or performing activities such as guiding a butterfly through gaze, catching meteors, or practicing breathing exercises.