虚拟现实技术应用于神经心理评估的研究概述

Application of Virtual Reality Technology for Neuropsychological Assessment

传统神经心理评估的实验控制和生态效度的平衡问题日益受到研究人员的关注,而新兴的虚拟现实(Virtual Reality,VR)技术为问题的改善带来了希望,它不仅可以模拟现实环境并支持被试的直接交互,而且能对传统测试进行再现和扩展。它所形成的评估系统能对刺激的内容和表象、任务的复杂度和被试的响应进行灵活控制,所获取的信息更丰富、准确。在初步评估注意过程(注意、单侧空间忽略)、记忆(前瞻记忆、情景记忆、空间记忆、地形定向)和执行功能方面已获得了令人满意的效果。然而目前VR评估的应用仍存在技术和设备方面的不足,以及对评估者和被试不同操作要求的局限,因此今后除了要规范化现有VR评估系统,还应该进一步发展基础条件来推动系统的广泛应用。

The balance issue of experiment control and ecological validity in traditional neuropsychological assessment is a growing concern for researchers. The emerging virtual reality （VR） technology brings the hope to improve this problem. It may not only imitate the real world and support the interactions between subjects and environments, but also can reproduce and extend the traditional tests. The VR assessment systems have more flexibility to control the contents and presentations of stimulus, the task complexity and the subjects＇ responses and the final information acquisition is more accurate. Its initial applications have encouraging results on attention process （attention, unilateral visual neglect）, memory （prospective memory, episodic memory, spatial memory, topographical orientation） and executive function. However, the up-to-date applications of VR assessments are still affected by the deficient technologies and instruments and have limitations on demanding the operation experiences of examiners and subjects. In order to push the extended application, standardization of the existing VR assessment systems and further development of basic conditions will be the aims of the future researches.