An LSU professor led a team of researchers that discovered an effective new way to manage ADHD symptoms: immersive virtual reality technology.
David Shepherd, an associate computer science professor at LSU, led groundbreaking research into the use of virtual reality technology for improving attention and focus in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. This innovative study explored how immersive VR environments could potentially serve as a tool for managing ADHD symptoms, enhancing cognitive training and improving behavioral outcomes.
What started as a side project, Shepherd and his team were originally researching how VR could help office and knowledge workers focus better on the job. However as the team’s research continued, Shepherd said they noticed something. Though VR helped the employees without ADHD, one of Shepherd’s students who has ADHD said that the type of VR they were using would help her focus tremendously in her noisy apartment.
“We realized we were working on the wrong problem,” Shepherd said. “. . .We can make a bigger impact on people who have ADHD”.
VR is a complex simulation that can either mimic or completely differ from the real world, creating “an environment where all external distractions are blocked out,” Shepherd said. ADHD students involved in this study wore VR headsets and noise-canceling headphones to block visual and auditory distractions.
While students are in this digital environment even their own internal distractions are completely muted, including forms of social media. The algorithm used for Shepherd’s study monitored how students “kick themselves off track” and how the VR prompted them to get back on task. This algorithm helped subside and target students’ specific ADHD symptoms immensely.
This study also found out what VR experiences are most effective for students with ADHD. After testing environments like the forest, streams in the woods and even the beach, Shepherd’s team found the environment where students would normally do their work with the normal distractions removed is what was most effective for a vast amount of students. For students with ADHD, anything too stimulating was ineffective, whereas a calmer, more familiar environment is most efficient.
“Turns out when you’re at the beach you probably don’t want to work,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd and his team faced challenges in their research. At the project’s start, their biggest challenge was that VR itself was not ready, including the expensive headsets, computers and softwares. Since then, technology has advanced so much that Shepherd and his team had to work with VR and also teach the students that were using it how to work it, too.
The team’s research suggests integration of VR into the treatment of ADHD holds great promise, but more developments and studies are necessary to fully harness its potential in clinical settings. However, Shepherd’s research shows using VR to treat ADHD symptoms has the possibility to have a significant impact on the lives of those with ADHD.
