Résumé : La capacité à accomplir des tâches locomotrices complexes, telles que celles requises dans la vie quotidienne, est souvent altérée chez les individus ayant subi une lésion cérébrale acquise, compromettant ainsi la marche autonome en communauté. Cette présentation se concentrera sur les avancées de recherche récentes en lien avec le contrôle visuomoteur de la locomotion et l’utilisation de la technologie de réalité mixte appliquée à la compréhension, à l’évaluation et à l’entraînement des tâches locomotrices complexes chez les populations ayant subi un accident vasculaire cérébral ou un traumatisme crânien. Plus précisément, des tâches locomotrices telles que les changements de direction et l’évitement des piétons, de même que la marche en contexte de double tâche, seront abordées. Les réussites et les défis liés au développement, à la validation et à l’application des outils de réalité mixte en contexte clinique seront également abordés, et les perspectives futures seront explorées.

Abstract: This talk will highlight how recent methodological advancements can benefit user-centered contextualization, co-design, and development of serious and individually tailored exergame-based training concepts.

The first part will present the methodology of the ‘Brain-IT’ project, which resulted in a new intervention approach combining multidomain (physical, motor, and cognitive) exergame-based training with biofeedback-guided resonance breathing training as an adjunct neuromodulatory intervention for the secondary prevention of mild neurocognitive disorder. The resulting ‘Brain-IT’ training was found effective in improving cognitive performance and resulted in structural brain improvements in the hippocampus, thalamus, and corpus callosum that correlated with these cognitive performance improvements.

The second part will provide a critical reflection on key learnings from applying existing methodological frameworks and introduce a novel consensus-based refined methodological guideline, Co-Develop-IT2.

Finally, an outlook on the application of this novel guideline in two ongoing projects will be provided. One project focuses on establishing a novel hybrid exergame-based rehabilitation concept for Parkinson’s disease. The other project aims to (i) co-design and develop implementation concepts for expanding healthcare structures with the ‘Brain-IT’ training, and (ii) provide proof of concept for its implementation and cost-effectiveness.

Abstract: This talk will demonstrate how Virtual Reality (VR) can be used as a tool to understand and improve performance in sport. The first part will show how rudimentary VR technology was used in the early 2000s to carefully control what the brain sees (perception), but also very accurately measure how the brain responds (action). The versatility of VR means it can be used to study human behaviour in many different sport and health applications. Examples from behavioural neuroscience will showcase how VR can help us understand decision-making in elite sport.

The second part of the talk will highlight how the recent evolution of both VR hardware and software has opened exciting new possibilities to take research out of the lab so it can make a difference on the pitch. Examples will demonstrate how VR applications, developed using research foundations, can enhance performance through the power of gameplay. This will include VR apps that can train perceptuo-motor skills in the home and monitor changes in players’ neural fitness that can occur because of injuries (e.g. concussions).

The talk will conclude by sharing some thoughts on the future of VR technology and the Metaverse and highlight opportunities for researchers to take advantage of this technology.