VR on Display

"Tetris has been proposed as a preventative intervention to reduce intrusive memories of a traumatic event. However, no neuroimaging study has assessed Tetris in patients with existing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or explored how playing Tetris may affect brain structure. We recruited patients with combat-related PTSD before psychotherapy and randomly assigned them to an experimental Tetris and therapy group (n = 20) or to a therapy-only control group (n = 20). In the control group, participants completed therapy as usual: eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) psychotherapy. In the Tetris group, in addition to EMDR, participants also played 60 minutes of Tetris every day from onset to completion of therapy, approximately 6 weeks later. Participants completed structural MRI and psychological questionnaires before and after therapy, and we collected psychological questionnaire data at follow-up, approximately 6 months later. We hypothesized that the Tetris group would show increases in hippocampal volume and reductions in symptoms, both directly after completion of therapy and at follow-up. Following therapy, hippocampal volume increased in the Tetris group, but not the control group. As well, hippocampal increases were correlated with reductions in symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety between completion of therapy and follow-up in the Tetris group, but not the control group. Playing Tetris may act as a cognitive interference task and as a brain-training intervention, but it was not possible to distinguish between these 2 potential mechanisms. Tetris may be useful as an adjunct therapeutic intervention for PTSD. Tetris-related increases in hippocampal volume may ensure that therapeutic gains are maintained after completion of therapy."

"Introduction Digital technologies are used in the prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is no clear evidence for effective gender-sensitive preventive measures for PTSD. Using Tetris during the golden hour after trauma can reduce intrusive memories and thus reduce the likelihood of PTSD in the future. Objectives Understand the features of gender differences after psychological interventions in patients in the acute period after a traumatic event. Video games that use visual-spatial efforts over a fixed time and frequency (Tetris) may reduce the likelihood of developing PTSD. Methods Main inclusion criteria was an exposure to traumatic event (time from traumatic event - 0-24 hours). Respondents were assessed by PTSD symptom scale (PCL-5), peritraumatic distress scale (PDS), peritraumatic dissociative experience scale (PDES) and global functioning scale (GFS), intrusion diary (intervals: week 0, week 4, week 8, week 12). Results PTSD symptoms were more severe in female participants (p ≤ 0,05). Participants in the Tetris game group recorded significantly fewer intrusive memories during the first week after the traumatic event than participants in two other groups, with a mean effect size of 57 (M = 8.73 vs. M = 23.26, t (69) = 2.80, P = 0.005, d = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.18, 1, 14). After the first month of follow-up, members of the Tetris game group reported less stress from intrusive symptoms. Conclusions Tetris intervention may reduce intrusive memories of real trauma. Women had more severe PTSD symptoms. Due to the small number of samples, the study should be repeated. Disclosure No significant relationships."

Mental Rotation is the ability to distinguish between two identical objects seen from different perspectives, typically without physical manipulation. The present study aimed to investigate whether a perceiver’s body orientation plays a role in a cognitive task involving mental rotation. Additionally, cognitive tasks, like mental rotation, have been shown to be affected by the orientation of perceiver’s bodies. Previous research has shown that cognitive tasks are sensitive to the orientation of the body; however, rotations of the body are lawfully tied to a gravitational frame of reference. To emphasize this, participants (N = 36) were placed in a virtual reality environment to disentangle both physical and environmental constraints while playing Tetris in different game and body orientations. Participants’ performance while playing Tetris in VR was better when in an upright body position regardless of the game orientation. This suggests that the orientation of a perceiver’s body plays a significant role in mental rotation while performing a cognitive task.

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PTSD is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening or traumatic event. If symptoms last more than a few months, it may be PTSD. The good news is that there are effective treatments.