Virtual Reality Cue Research Articles

Visual feedback improves movement illusions induced by tendon vibration after chronic stroke

BackgroundIllusion of movement induced by tendon vibration is commonly used in rehabilitation and seems valuable for motor rehabilitation after stroke, by playing a role in cerebral plasticity. The aim was to study if congruent visual cues using Virtual Reality (VR) could enhance the illusion of movement induced by tendon vibration of the wrist among participants with stroke.MethodsWe included 20 chronic stroke participants. They experienced tendon vibration of their wrist (100 Hz, 30 times) inducing illusion of movement. Three VR visual conditions were added to the vibration: a congruent moving virtual hand (Moving condition); a static virtual hand (Static condition); or no virtual hand at all (Hidden condition). The participants evaluated for each visual condition the intensity of the illusory movement using a Likert scale, the sensation of wrist’s movement using a degree scale and they answered a questionnaire about their preferred condition.ResultsThe Moving condition was significantly superior to the Hidden condition and to the Static condition in terms of illusion of movement (p < 0.001) and the wrist’s extension (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the Hidden and the Static condition for these 2 criteria. The Moving condition was considered the best one to increase the illusion of movement (in 70% of the participants). Two participants did not feel any illusion of movement.ConclusionsThis study showed the interest of using congruent cues in VR in order to enhance the consistency of the illusion of movement induced by tendon vibration among participants after stroke, regardless of their clinical severity. By stimulating the brain motor areas, this visuo-proprioceptive feedback could be an interesting tool in motor rehabilitation.Record number in Clinical Trials: NCT04130711, registered on October 17th 2019 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04130711?id=NCT04130711&draw=2&rank=1).

Visual-haptic integration, action and embodiment in virtual reality.

The current generation of virtual reality (VR) technologies has improved substantially from legacy systems, particularly in the resolution and latency of their visual display. The presentation of haptic cues remains challenging, however, because haptic systems do not generalise well over the range of stimuli (both tactile and proprioceptive) normally present when interacting with objects in the world. This study investigated whether veridical tactile and proprioceptive cues lead to more efficient interaction with a virtual environment. Interaction in the world results in spatial and temporal correlation of tactile, proprioceptive and visual cues. When cues in VR are similarly correlated, observers experience a sense of embodiment and agency of their avatars. We investigated whether sensorimotor performance was mediated by embodiment of the avatar hands. Participants performed a Fitts' tapping task in different conditions (VR with no haptics, active haptics, passive haptics, and on a real touchscreen). The active-haptic condition provided abstract tactile cues and the passive haptic condition provided veridical tactile and proprioceptive cues. An additional (hybrid haptics) condition simulated an ideal passive haptic system. Movement efficiency (throughput) and embodiment were higher for the passive than for the active and no-haptics conditions. However, components of embodiment (perceived agency and ownership) did not predict unique variance in throughput. Improved sensorimotor performance and ratings of presence and realism support the use of passive haptics in VR environments where objects are in known and stable locations, regardless of whether performance was mediated by the sense of embodiment.

Virtual Reality Technology Use in Cigarette Craving and Smoking Interventions (I "Virtually" Quit): Systematic Review.

BackgroundOver the last 2 decades, virtual reality technologies (VRTs) have been proposed as a way to enhance and improve smoking cessation therapy.ObjectiveThis systematic review aims to evaluate and summarize the current knowledge on the application of VRT in various smoking cessation therapies, as well as to explore potential directions for future research and intervention development.MethodsA literature review of smoking interventions using VRT was conducted.ResultsNot all intervention studies included an alternative therapy or a placebo condition against which the effectiveness of the intervention could be benchmarked, or a follow-up measure to ensure that the effects were lasting. Virtual reality (VR) cue exposure therapy was the most extensively studied intervention, but its effect on long-term smoking behavior was inconsistent. Behavioral therapies such as a VR approach-avoidance task or gamified interventions were less common but reported positive results. Notably, only 1 study combined Electronic Nicotine Delivery Devices with VRT.ConclusionsThe inclusion of a behavioral component, as is done in the VR approach-avoidance task and gamified interventions, may be an interesting avenue for future research on smoking interventions. As Electronic Nicotine Delivery Devices are still the subject of much controversy, their potential to support smoking cessation remains unclear. For future research, behavioral or multicomponent interventions are promising avenues of exploration. Future studies should improve their validity by comparing their intervention group with at least 1 alternative or placebo control group, as well as incorporating follow-up measures.

Is Virtual Reality Cue Exposure a Promising Adjunctive Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder?

This narrative review presents recent developments in virtual reality (VR)-based interventions for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The latest advances in mental healthcare hail an imminent cyber revolution, ushering in novel treatment options, with immersive virtual technology at the very forefront of expected change. With an aim to (a) provide a background on VR use in mental healthcare of AUD patients, (b) summarize existing evidence on conventional approaches to the treatment of AUDs and a trending paradigm shift towards VR applications in their management, and (c) describe key issues and future directions in research on craving assessment and VR cue-induced therapy in AUDs, a search for experimental and meta-analytic evidence was performed in six databases: PubMed and EBSCO (Medline, ERIC, PsychINFO, Academic Search Ultimate, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition). Pooled results were screened for eligibility, and relevant papers were selected for inclusion. The analysis revealed VR’s promising effects in the treatment of AUDs. Its remarkable potential to simulate cues underlying subsequent addictive behaviors makes its application in the assessment and treatment of AUDs an attractive alternative to researchers and clinicians alike. Nevertheless, more evidence is needed before virtual reality cue exposure therapy (VR-CET) can become a clinical standard of care.

Virtual reality in the treatment of eating disorders.

Over the last 25 years, virtual reality (VR) has offered innovative solutions for targeting different key symptoms of eating disorders: from craving to negative emotions, from attentional biases to body dissatisfaction. The present narrative review assesses the existing literature in these areas trying to identify their different levels of clinical evidence. Specifically, the review presents four clinical approaches based upon VR and their implications in the treatment of eating disorders: VR cue exposure, VR reference frame shifting, VR for correcting body distortions and attentional biases. In general, existing findings demonstrate the clinical value of VR. On one side, the present review suggests that two VR‐based techniques—VR exposure and reference frame shifting—have a significant research support and provide a possible advantage over traditional cognitive‐behavioural therapy (CBT) for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. On the other side, two emerging VR applications—multisensory body illusions and the use of VR for the modification of attentional biases—even if supported by preliminary data still need further research.

SPinPong - Virtual Reality Table Tennis Skill Acquisition using Visual, Haptic and Temporal Cues.

Learning an advanced skill in sports requires a huge amount of practice and players also have to overcome both physical difficulties and the dullness of repetitive training. Returning a fast spin shot in table tennis could be taken as an example, as athletes need to judge the spin type and decide the racket pose within a second, which is difficult for beginners. Therefore, in this paper, we show how to design an intuitive training system to acquire this specific skill using different cues in Virtual Reality (VR). Using VR, we can easily provide visual information, attach haptic devices, and distort the speed of time, however, it is difficult to decide which types of information could benefit the training. In an initial study, by comparing real world training with VR training, we showed the effect of VR training and obtained some insights about augmentation for training spin shots. The training system was then improved by adding three new conditions using different visualizations and temporal distortions, as well as a haptic racket for creating realistic feedback. Finally, we performed a detailed experiment, which suggest a significant improvement of skill for each condition compared to the baseline, while a qualitative evaluation indicates that both users' motivation and their understanding of spin are increased by using our system.

Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study.

Binge-eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have adverse psychological and medical consequences. Innovative interventions, like the integration of virtual reality (VR) with cue-exposure therapy (VR-CET), enhance outcomes for refractory patients compared to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of translating VR-CET into real-world settings. To investigate this question, adults previously treated for BED or BN with at least one objective or subjective binge episode/week were recruited from an outpatient university eating disorder clinic to receive up to eight weekly one-hour VR-CET sessions. Eleven of 16 (68.8%) eligible patients were enrolled; nine (82%) completed treatment; and 82% (9/11) provided follow-up data 7.1 (SD = 2.12) months post-treatment. Overall, participant and therapist acceptability of VR-CET was high. Intent-to-treat objective binge episodes (OBEs) decreased significantly from 3.3 to 0.9/week (p < 0.001). Post-treatment OBE 7-day abstinence rate for completers was 56%, with 22% abstinent for 28 days at follow-up. Among participants purging at baseline, episodes decreased from a mean of one to zero/week, with 100% abstinence maintained at follow-up. The adoption of VR-CET into real-world clinic settings appears feasible and acceptable, with a preliminary signal of effectiveness. Findings, including some loss of treatment gains during follow-up may inform future treatment development.

Utilisation de la réalité virtuelle dans les troubles des conduites alimentaires

Virtual reality is a new technology that can be used to model an environment with which an individual can interact using all five senses. It is notably used in psychiatry for anxiety disorders and addictions, and its use in eating disorders has been growing in recent years. Indeed, virtual reality offers interesting advantages, such as its ability to personalize any environment, which is also more secure and controllable. Recent studies show promising results in the understanding, evaluation, and therapeutic management of eating disorders. The use of avatars in anorexia nervosa allows for a correct assessment of the perceptual (body image distortion) and cognitive-affective (body dissatisfaction) components of the body image disorder in a similar way to conventional methods, but also for a better understanding of them. Moreover, avatars allow the development of innovative therapeutic protocols and are thus used in the context of exposure therapy. The new body swapping protocol, based on a multisensory illusion, offers particularly promising results in the reduction of body image disorder. For bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, virtual reality has made it possible to better characterize the triggering mechanisms of binge eating episodes through studies that have observed different responses to food-related environments and stimuli. At the therapeutic level, virtual reality cue exposure therapy has the most empirical support. Its aim is to reduce or eliminate the anxiety and craving felt by a patient in response to exposure to food or other food-related cues by preventing the patient from consuming food, and results show clear reductions in anxiety, craving and binge eating episodes. While all these results seem to indicate a bright future for virtual reality in eating disorders, further studies are needed to validate the positive impact of its use, but also its limitations. Notably, cyber sickness could alter the smooth running of virtual reality therapy sessions by causing nausea and disorientation. Moreover, it is important to verify that a therapeutic protocol does not lose its effectiveness when it is transposed into virtual reality. However, virtual reality seems to be a therapeutic tool that is better accepted by patients, and even better by adolescents, which is very interesting for eating disorders since adolescents are the most affected. Virtual reality could therefore help motivate patients to pursue treatment and reduce the dropout rate while offering good therapeutic results. Thus, studies conducted in recent years have shown that virtual reality is a promising tool in the understanding, assessment and treatment of eating disorders, and future research should confirm this, particularly in the adolescent population.

The appeal of virtual chocolate: A systematic comparison of psychological and physiological food cue responses to virtual and real food

Virtual Reality (VR) is considered a promising tool for measurement of food choices (e.g., virtual supermarkets) and for interventions regarding eating behavior (e.g., cue exposure therapy). However, it is not yet known whether food cue responses (FCRs) are similar in VR as in real life, which creates uncertainty about the effectiveness of these interventions. Furthermore, the role of hunger in relation to FCRs is still unclear, both in real life and in VR. Therefore, this study explores to what extent exposure to food cues in VR and real life elicit similar psychological (i.e., craving) and physiological (i.e., salivation) FCRs, and whether this differs between hungry and satiated conditions.The study employed a 2 (stimulus type: food vs. non-food) × 2 (exposure mode: VR vs. real life) × 2 (hunger state: hungry vs. satiated) within-subjects design (N = 54). Exposure to food led to stronger cravings than exposure to non-food, both in VR and real life, albeit weaker in VR. Furthermore, exposure to food led to more salivation than exposure to non-food, however in real life only.In sum, craving (but not salivation) responses after exposure to virtual food (vs. non-food) approach real life responses. Craving is an important measure in several fields of therapy, and this study suggests that VR is a potentially useful intervention tool. Additionally, this study provides evidence that VR can be used as a tool when it comes to measuring food-related behavior, as virtual food approximates psychological FCRs in real life.

Predictors of Changes in Alcohol Craving Levels during a Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Treatment among Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder.

Background/Objective: Determining the predictive variables associated with levels of alcohol craving can ease the identification of patients who can benefit from treatments. This study aimed to describe changes (improvement or no change/deterioration) in alcohol craving levels and explore the predictors of these changes from admission to discharge in outpatients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) undergoing treatment-as-usual (TAU), or treatment-as-usual supplemented with virtual reality cue-exposure therapy (TAU + VR-CET). Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted amongst 42 outpatients with AUD (n = 15 TAU + VR-CET and n = 27 TAU) from a clinical setting. Changes in the levels of alcohol craving between admission and discharge were assessed with the Multidimensional Alcohol Craving Scale. Sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education, and socioeconomic and civil status), cognitive-affective behavioral patterns (AUD severity, abstinence duration, psychiatric comorbidity, state anxiety, attentional bias, and substance use), and type of treatment (TAU + VR-CET and only TAU) were also evaluated. Results: The TAU + VR-CET group showed greater changes of improvement in the levels of alcohol craving than the TAU group (χ2 = 10.996; p = 0.001). Intragroup changes in alcohol craving from pre to post-treatment were significant in the TAU + VR-CET group (χ2 = 13.818; p = 0.003) but not within the TAU group (χ2 = 2.349; p = 0.503). The odds of an improvement in any of the craving levels between pre- and post-test was 18.18 (1/0.055) times higher in the TAU + VR-CET group with respect to the TAU group. The use of illicit drugs in the month prior to the test increased the odds of having a positive change by 18.18 (1/0.055) with respect to not having consumed. Conclusions: Including VR-CET in TAU programs may provide benefits in the treatment of AUDs mainly among patients with intense alcohol craving and individuals having used illicit substances prior to treatment.

Isradipine enhancement of virtual reality cue exposure for smoking cessation: Rationale and study protocol for a double-blind randomized controlled trial

Cigarette smoking remains a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, contributing to over 480,000 deaths each year. Although significant strides have been made in the development of effective smoking cessation treatments, most established interventions are associated with high relapse rates. One avenue for increasing the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions is to design focused, efficient, and rigorous experiments testing engagement of well-defined mechanistic targets. Toward this aim, the current protocol will apply a pharmacologic augmentation strategy informed by basic research in animal models of addiction. Our goal is to evaluate the enhancing effect of isradipine, an FDA-approved calcium channel blocker, on the extinction of craving—a key mechanism of drug relapse after periods of abstinence. To activate craving robustly in human participants, we will use multimodal smoking cues including novel 360° video environments developed for this project and delivered through consumer virtual reality headsets. Adult smokers will take either isradipine or placebo and complete the cue exposure protocol in a double-blind randomized control trial. In order to test the hypothesis that isradipine will enhance retention of craving extinction, participants will repeat cue exposure 24 h later without the administration of isradipine or placebo. The study will be implemented in a primary care setting where adult smokers receive healthcare, and smoking behavior will be tracked throughout the trial with ecological momentary assessment.

Bringing Virtual Reality From Clinical Trials to Clinical Practice for the Treatment of Eating Disorders: An Example Using Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy.

Novel treatment options for eating disorders (EDs) are critically needed to enhance treatment outcomes and reduce the rates of treatment dropouts. On average, only 50% of individuals receiving evidence-based care remit, whereas 24% drop out before treatment completion. One particularly promising direction involves integrating virtual reality (VR) with existing evidence-based treatments (EBTs) such as cue exposure therapy (CET). Across psychiatric disorders, VR-based interventions are demonstrating at least preliminary efficacy and noninferiority to traditional treatments. Furthermore, VR technology has become increasingly portable, resulting in improved acceptance, increased access, and reductions in cost. However, more efficient research processes may be needed to uncover the potential benefits of these rapid technological advances. This viewpoint paper reviews existing empirical support for integrating VR with EBTs (with a focus on its use with EDs) and proposes key next steps to more rapidly bring this innovative technology-based intervention into real-world clinic settings, as warranted. VR-CET for EDs is used to illustrate a suggested process for developing such treatment enhancements. We recommend following a deployment-focused model of intervention development and testing to enable rapid implementation of robust, practice-ready treatments. In addition, our review highlights the need for a comprehensive clinical protocol that supports clinicians and researchers in the implementation and testing of VR-CET and identifies key missing protocol components with rationale for their inclusion. Ultimately, this work may lead to a more complete understanding of the full potential of the applications and integrations of VR into mental health care globally.

Stable or able? Effect of virtual reality stimulation on static balance of post-stroke patients and healthy subjects

Over the last decades, virtual reality (VR) emerged as a potential tool for developing new rehabilitation treatments in neurological patients. However, despite the increasing number of studies, a clear comprehension about the impact of immersive VR-treatment on balance and posture is still scarce. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of VR cues on balance performances of subjects affected by stroke, age-matched healthy subjects, and young healthy subjects. Fifteen patients with sub-acute stroke, fifteen healthy elderly subjects and fifteen healthy young adults took part in this study. All groups were immersed in a CAVE system on a stabilometric platform. The experiment consisted in fourteen trials: (i) ten VR trials, which differed in term of speed and movement direction; (ii) two-stabilometric static sessions, with opened and closed eyes (one at the start and one at the end of the experimental session). Results showed that VR trials increased the sway path length (representative of the body sway amplitudes), in young subjects. Elderly and patients showed less changes in postural sway during virtual reality stimulation than young group. These findings may suggest that a physiological postural performance is not simply evaluable assessing stability, but also assessing the ability of adapting body oscillations to the external stimuli.

Reduction of cybersickness during and immediately following noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation.

The mechanism underlying cybersickness during virtual reality (VR) exposure is still poorly understood, although research has highlighted a causal role for visual-vestibular sensory conflict. Recently established methods for reducing cybersickness include galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) to mimic absent vestibular cues in VR, or vibration of the vestibular organs to add noise to the sensory modality. Here, we examined if applying noise to the vestibular system using noisy-current GVS affects sickness severity in VR. Participants were exposed to one of the two VR games that were classified as either moderately or intensely nauseogenic. The VR content lasted for 50min and was broken down into three blocks: 30min of gameplay during exposure to either noisy GVS (± 1750μA) or sham stimulation (0μA), and 10min of gameplay before and after this block. We characterized the effects of noisy GVS in terms of post-minus-pre-exposure cybersickness scores. In the intense VR condition, we found a main effect of noisy vestibular stimulation on a verbal cybersickness scale, but not for questionnaire measures of cybersickness. Participants reported lower cybersickness scores during and directly after exposure to GVS. However, this difference was quickly extinguished (~ 3-6min) after further VR exposure, indicating that sensory adaptation did not persist after stimulation was terminated. In contrast, there were no differences between the sham and GVS group for the moderate VR content. The results show the potential for reducing cybersickness with non-invasive sensory stimulation. We address possible mechanisms for the observed effects, including noise-induced sensory re-weighting.

Virtual reality based hybrid simulation for functional endoscopic sinus surgery

Advances in Virtual Reality (VR) technology warrants the improvement of the training system to replicate surgical procedures. The VR-based training system has proved to be useful for surgical training by decreasing operative time and increasing patient safety. For example, Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) is challenging due to the confined operating space surrounded by critical structures such as the eye, brain, and major blood vessels. Image-guided surgery in FESS enables the use of real-time navigation of surgical instruments to preoperative imaging. This paper demonstrates the development of a surgical simulator which facilitates trainees in three-fold. First, the identification and segmentation of critical structures in head and neck become achievable through the VR-based simulator. Second, the simulator supports to rehearse the surgical steps on a model of patient-specific anatomy. Finally, experiencing VR cues during surgical training facilitates faster recognition of anatomical landmarks. Standard computed tomography (CT) medical imaging data were utilized to develop a VR-based hybrid simulation. The validation study reveals that haptic feedback and visual/audio cues in the simulator supports the enhancement of operational accuracy and efficiency. Moreover, the proposed system works as a training tool, which will reduce patient morbidity and mortality.

Drug-related Virtual Reality Cue Reactivity is Associated with Gamma Activity in Reward and Executive Control Circuit in Methamphetamine Use Disorders

Accumulated studies in substance use disorders indicated that the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit and executive control circuit played interactive roles in the cue-reactivity and gamma oscillatory in the cortex, as well as autonomic nervous activity was associated with it. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of processing drug-related cues. Sixty methamphetamine users were recruited and exposed to the drug-related virtual reality (VR) environments. Self-reported craving was assessed and skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate variability were used to measure the autonomic nervous reactivity. With source estimation, gamma current density was used to measure the activity of medial prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex (MPFC/OFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) which are responsible for the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit and the executive control circuit. The VR drug-related cue induced an increased craving and SCL compared with the neutral condition. Gamma activity in MPFC/OFC and right DLPFC were decreased after cue exposure and predicted the SCL changes. However, no association was found between self-reported craving and electrophysiological response. Cue-reactivity in cortex and ANS, as well as their association, were observed in this study. Cue-induced electrophysiological responses were related to gamma activity in the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit and the executive control circuit.

A virtual reality counterconditioning procedure to reduce methamphetamine cue-induced craving

The present work developed a virtual reality (VR) counterconditioning procedure (VRCP), and investigated its efficacy in treatment of cue-induced craving in individuals with methamphetamine (METH) dependence. In study 1, thirty-one patients diagnosed with METH dependence received VRCP, while twenty-nine METH-dependent patients in waiting-list group did not. In study 2, the VRCP was computerized as a VR treatment system. Six-hundred and twelve abstinent individuals with a history of METH dependence received the computerized VRCP, while two-hundred seventy-six abstinent individuals with a history of METH dependence in waiting-list group did not. Patients with METH dependence who received VRCP showed a significantly larger decrease on the score of METH-craving and METH-liking from baseline to follow-up assessments, compared to those who did not received VRCP. Participants received VRCP showed a significantly larger decrease in HRV indexes on time domain and non-linear domain from baseline to follow-up assessments during exposure to VR cues, compared to those in waiting-list group. These findings indicate that the counterconditioning procedure under VR environment may be a useful strategy in suppressing cue-induced reactivity for patients with METH dependence.

The importance of operator knowledge in evaluating virtual reality cue fidelity

Research, development, testing, and operator training of large agricultural harvesting equipment has become increasingly expensive and complex. Operational simulators can offset these costs, but it is critical to evaluate the fidelity of the simulator experience to ensure that it will lead to operator behaviors that match those in the real world. This research describes a validation process for new visual cues within simulators and focuses on the presentation and fidelity of cues in a combine harvest simulator. The fully functional immersive combine simulator in this work provides a mixed-reality interface that combines a physically accurate operator interface with displays of virtual reality (VR) combine header and grain. Grain combine operators participated to assess how well they perceived the VR cues as representing actual field and crop activity. Results showed that operators successfully identified 85% of the visual cues in the combine simulator and recognized when these cues indicated machine settings adjustment needs but that operators' ability to choose the correct action to take correlated with their knowledge of the combine. Results also showed wide variation in the number of the grain combine’s head reel adjustments made by operators, likely reflecting strong individual preferences or habits around reel adjustment. Operators' number of adjustment interactions with the reel was also significantly correlated with the number of correct actions chosen, suggesting that careful attention to the reel is related to good farming performance. This research demonstrates the importance of taking operator knowledge and preferences into account when designing new agricultural products and offers a systematic method of validating cues within an agricultural simulator.

Entorhinal Neurons Exhibit Cue Locking in Rodent VR.

The regular firing pattern exhibited by medial entorhinal (mEC) grid cells of locomoting rodents is hypothesized to provide spatial metric information relevant for navigation. The development of virtual reality (VR) for head-fixed mice confers a number of experimental advantages and has become increasingly popular as a method for investigating spatially-selective cells. Recent experiments using 1D VR linear tracks have shown that some mEC cells have multiple fields in virtual space, analogous to grid cells on real linear tracks. We recorded from the mEC as mice traversed virtual tracks featuring regularly spaced repetitive cues and identified a population of cells with multiple firing fields, resembling the regular firing of grid cells. However, further analyses indicated that many of these were not, in fact, grid cells because: (1) when recorded in the open field they did not display discrete firing fields with six-fold symmetry; and (2) in different VR environments their firing fields were found to match the spatial frequency of repetitive environmental cues. In contrast, cells identified as grid cells based on their open field firing patterns did not exhibit cue locking. In light of these results we highlight the importance of controlling the periodicity of the visual cues in VR and the necessity of identifying grid cells from real open field environments in order to correctly characterize spatially modulated neurons in VR experiments.

Drug-related virtual reality cue reactivity is associated with gamma activity in reward and executive control circuit in methamphetamine use disorders (Preprint)

Drug-related virtual reality cue reactivity is associated with gamma activity in reward and executive control circuit in methamphetamine use disorders (Preprint)