Prof. Dr. Stéphane Bouchard

Prof. Dr. Stéphane Bouchard University of Quebec, Canada "Back to the Future: the use of VR guided by neuroscience and learning theories"

Abstract:

The use of virtual reality (VR) in the treatment of anxiety disorders and addictions has often been guided by creativity, clinical experience, hunches, or classical approaches to treatment mechanisms (e.g., habituation). This presentation will argue in favor of a stronger focus on neuroscience and current theories of learning and emotions. The presentation will begin by presenting results from a few clinical trials on the efficacy of VR for anxiety disorders (including unpublished data from published trials), followed by results from four studies recently completed or underway by members of our lab. These studies will focus on predictors of change (in the treatment of spider phobia and social anxiety in musicians), implicit information processing, and making exposure more effective in VR than in vivo. Results will document the need to focus on treatment mechanisms already know to explain the efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) and on how to make CBT more effective with VR if the clinical protocols are derived from a good knowledge of contemporaneous principles of learning, emotional processing and neuroscience. Examples will also be provided for addictions and the feeling of presence.