In a study presented last week at the British Psychology Society Annual Conference, a team led by Oxford psychiatry expert Dr. Emily Holmes concluded that when played soon after exposure to trauma, Tetris served as “a cognitive vaccine” that seemed to “inoculate against the build-up of flashbacks.” Why? Because the process of playing Tetris, the team hypothesizes, places demands on one’s brain that interfere with its ability to form and retain the traumatic memories that later emerge as flashbacks.
Army finalizes STEM vehicle for recruiting trail (by RDECOM)
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — After five months of engineering and production work, the U.S. Army has completed its first vehicle designed for recruiting civilian scientists.
The Army will unveil the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Asset Vehicle during All-American Bowl Week Jan. 6 in San Antonio. The Army demonstrates its latest technological advancements in the Army Technology Zone before the annual game.
ICT NCOA Leadership Workshop 14 - 16 February 2012
Top image: Gary Rauchfuss (INCOPD), Roberta Sparkman (TRADOC), Rich DiNinni (ICT), John Sparks (INCOPD)
Virtual reality game-based technology can be used effectively to improve motor skill rehabilitation of a range of functional deficits. Our design approach focuses on the creation of flexible VR systems/tools that could address both assessment and training tasks in a more comprehensive fashion than is currently available within the clinic and home settings.
Integrating the newest consumer-ready technologies, the Motor Rehab Lab at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies explores and promotes the creation of home-based rehabilitation and exergame applications that do not require the user to hold an interface device or move on a pad as the source of interaction within the game. Instead, the user’s body is the game controller operating in 3D space, and multiple users can be tracked in this fashion for both cooperative and competitive interactive activities.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC’s inspirational show that remodels homes for families and people who are facing enormous hardship, features ICT’s Microsoft Kinect motor rehabilitation technology. Belinda Lange, senior research associate at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, customized ICT rehabilitation software to assist Staff Sergeant Allen Hill, who was almost killed by a roadside bomb, leaving him with traumatic flashbacks that continue to haunt him. Belinda pitched in to help the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition production crew get the house ready.
“The entire experience was incredible. I can’t wait to go back to Kansas to check on Sergeant Hill’s progress and get more feedback on our project,” she said.
To get more information on Belinda Lange’s work involving neurological injury and motor rehabilitation, please check out the ICT MedVR website.
“Military officials say they are the first all-female construction team to take on a construction job from start to finish in the Seabees’ 70-year history. And they did it in record time in the barren rocky mountains of Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold and the focus of recent combat efforts.”
Nice quote from the article, “It’s definitely something to be proud of,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with hard work and good results.”
