Preventing teen smoking with virtual reality.

Smoking incidence is rising among adolescents but not adults. Although many prevention programs are effective, there is room for improvement. This pilot project combined the welldocumented benefits of Life Skills Training (LST) with the unique multisensory, 3D qualities of virtual environment (VE) technology to address some of the disadvantages of traditional prevention programs. In an 8-week pilot study, 72 seventh-grade students were randomly assigned to either LST, VE, or nonintervention control groups. The VE system included goggles, synthesized speech, spatial trackers on head and hand, a hand-held controller, and a speech recognition system. Questionnaires measured participants' smoking knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. A bogus pipeline procedure was used to increase reliability of the self-report measures. Pre-exposure data showed no significant differences between groups on the questionnaire. Post-exposure data indicated improvements in attitudes in the LST and VE groups. In addition, the VE group showed more accurate information concerning peer and adult cigarette use and more likelihood of using coping and refusal skills. Usability and acceptability questionnaire data showed ease of use and learning and that participants would use VE technology frequently if it were available to them at school. These data indicated that this VE application is a promising tool for keeping teens healthy.

Visual and somesthetic influences on postural orientation in the median plane.

We investigated optic and somesthetic contributions to perceived body orientation in the pitch dimension. In a within-subject factorial design, each of 12 subjects attempted to set his/her body erect or 45 degrees back from erect while restrained in a movable bed surrounded by an adjustable box. The box provided a visual environment consisting of either a grid pattern, two luminous lines, or complete darkness. Both the grid pattern and the luminous lines were effective at biasing settings of body position when the box was pitched; the pitched grid was more effective than the pitched lines. Although the pitch of the box influenced orientation to both goals, the effect was greater for the diagonal goal than for the erect goal. We present a model of postural orientation in the median plane that involves vestibular, somatosensory, and visual inputs.

Oculomotor and skeletal motor systems share one map of visual space.

Previous research has shown that cognitive and motor visual systems have separate maps of visual space because spatial values in them can be manipulated independently. Here we ask whether the motor map in turn can be divided into separate representations of space. Forty large saccadic eye movements in darkness resulted in significant ocular undershoot of a remembered eccentric target location, and a comparable amount of undershoot with manual pointing to the same remembered target. Saccadic and manual measures were also highly correlated within sessions as well as between sessions. Because pointing could be changed by manipulating only saccades, we conclude that the two systems share a single map of space.