501derful.org
I know a group of guys that are exploring funding to create a physician office virtual reality system that will have an evolving “world” that is created via biofeedback response from the patient. The initial target market would be physician groups (rad and onco) and would eventually plug into XBOX and Playstation systems.
Cool huh? Here is a similar article…..
“The Anti-Video Game”
Discover (12/03) Vol. 24, No. 12, P. 34; Johnson, Steven
The brainchild of Corwin Bell and biomedical engineer Kurt Smith is “The Journey to Wild Divine,” an interactive CD-ROM that can be used as a biofeedback system by immersing the user in a virtual environment that is explored and manipulated according to physiological cues of stress and relaxation. The tool involves sensors worn on the fingers to determine the user’s state of awareness by measuring galvanic skin response and heart rate, and interacting with the artificial world of Wild Divine trains the user to change that state in order to solve puzzles and pass tests so that new areas of the game can be accessed. Conventional biofeedback systems have long promised a way to attain better self-control, but their reliance on uninspiring graphs to represent users’ physical state, coupled with the bulkiness and cost of biofeedback equipment, has limited their usability. Wild Divine offers a relatively cheap and simple method for users to achieve equilibrium between the body’s sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, which is a clinical description of the “heart breath” technique many Yogis espouse. “You have this ancient technology in yoga and meditation that dates back thousands of years, but being in the scientific paradigm that we’re in, we want proof,” explains Bell. “I felt that yoga and meditation were really important tools, but I still wanted that printout at the end of the session to show me what was happening to my body.” Wild Divine’s creators believe such a game allows people to regulate internal systems while saving them the bother of attending yoga classes or traveling to retreats. It also opens up the possibility of software tools that function according to the user’s energy level and psychological state.
http://www.discover.com/issues/dec-03/departments/emerging-technology/
