Who would ever think that a hugely popular virtual reality adventure video game Duke Nukem could provide crucial clues not only in diagnosing depression, but also in determining the severity of such illness? Instead of the usual series of probing questions about dreams and relationship with your family, relatives or friends, you are sent forth to fight against marauding aliens in a virtual environment.
What attracted the interest of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) team of experts is the navigational tasks involve in the game more than its martial elements. Based on different studies about depression, the condition could be linked to shrinkage or dysfunction of the hippocampus, the part of the brain in charged with memory and spatial awareness.
With the use of a virtual town lifted from Duke Nukem scenes, volunteers are instructed to navigate their way to various landmarks around that town for a period of time. With the exception of the weaponry and the aliens, the NIMH team led by Leda Gould, have been able to asses spatial awareness and memory.
A distinct impairment of these mental functions was exhibited by those volunteers who are...
To view and download this full PLR article, you must be logged in. Registration is completely free. Once you create your account, you will be able to browse, search & downlod from our PLR articles database of over "1,57,897+" on 1,000's of niches and 200+ categories without paying a penny. Click here to signup...
