ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Virtual Reality May Help Dementia Patients Recall Their Memories

Virtual reality may vastly improve quality of life for people with dementia by helping them recall past memories.

Updated
Fit
2 min read
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large
Hindi Female

Virtual reality (VR) technology may vastly improve the quality of life for people with dementia by helping them recall past memories, reduce aggression and improve interactions with caregivers, a study has found.

Eight patients aged between 41 and 88 who are living with dementia including Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease took part in the study published in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Each patient used a VR headset to 'visit' one of five virtual environments (VEs) of a cathedral, a forest, a sandy beach, a rocky beach, and a countryside scene, said researchers from the University of Kent in the UK.

Sixteen sessions were monitored with feedback gathered from patients and their caregivers.

According to Jim Ang from the University of Kent,

VR can clearly have positive benefits for patients with dementia, their families and caregivers.

"It provides a richer and more satisfying quality of life than is otherwise available, with many positive outcomes," Ang said.

One key finding was that VR helped patients recall old memories by providing new stimuli difficult to achieve, due to ill-health, or inaccessible within a secure environment.

For example, one patient recalled a holiday when they saw a bridge in the VE because it reminded them of that trip while another remembered a holiday where they visited a market.

0

These memories not only provided positive mental stimulation for the patients but helped their caregivers learn more about their lives before care, thereby improving their social interaction.

At an arts session some weeks later, one of the patients who had taken part commented that it had been ‘brilliant’.

He appeared to enjoy reminiscing about the experience and was inspired to draw a seaside picture, suggesting that his VR experience had had a positive effect on his mood and motivation to engage with the art session.

The patients also demonstrated their own choices during the experiment, with some keen to explore different VEs within a session, while others explored the same environment repeatedly.

"With further research it will be possible to further evaluate the elements of VEs that benefit patients and use VR even more effectively," he said.

(This story was auto-published from a syndicated feed. No part of the story has been edited by FIT)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from fit

Topics:  Dementia   Virtual Reality   Memory 

Published: 
Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×