Design of an fMRI Compatible System to Explore Neural Mechanisms Subserving VR Therapies

Since most functional activities of daily living, involving the upper-extremity, are bilateral in nature, a rehabilitation system with functionally integrated activities could result in stronger training effects on the sensorimotor abilities of patients. The virtual reality piano trainer, described here, incorporates bilateral and multi-joint movements to exercise the hands, wrists and forearms. In an effort to better describe the underlying mechanisms that may be driving improvement from virtual reality therapies, and to more effectively develop such activities, a pilot fMRI study exploring simple VR tasks and preliminary data are introduced in this paper