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New Zealand scientists from the University of Canterbury have developed a new therapy to improve the remembering and recollecting efficiency. The ‘Virtual Reality’ therapy can enhance the stroke victims’ memory to remember time and event-based prospective memory tasks.

Stroke survivors are most probably cannot remember things even after rehabilitation and recovered. During the rehabilitation process the therapy can help them to get notice many things like time based events and frequent incidents.

Professor Tanja Mitrovic of the university said, “This kind of memory is often impaired in stroke survivors and can interfere with independent living, as it can result in forgetting to take medication or remember something they had to do.”

The researchers have developed a computer-based treatment based on visual imagery for virtual reality that taught participants on prospective memory tasks and how to remember time.

“It is a complex cognitive ability, which requires coordination of multiple cognitive abilities: spatial navigation, retrospective memory, attention and executive functioning,” said Mitrovic.

After the treatment, post-stroke patients practiced their skills using videos first and later in a 3D virtual reality environment. The method have really helped the survivors to practice the remembering and recollecting actions, news, and certain important events of their life.

“We conducted a study which ended in October last year with 15 stroke survivors. Each participant had 10 individual sessions spread over 10 weeks. The analysis shows that the memory skills of the stroke patients we tested increased significantly,” said Mitrovic.

The intention of the researchers is to ensure the software or technology to the Stroke survivors for using round the clock and to gain enough matter to mange things themselves.

Stroke is a major killer in many countries after cancer and surviving it also leads serious adult disability in patients.

AW: Kannamsai