Browsing by Subject "VR"
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(2023)Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The symptoms appear in childhood and, if left untreated, can continue into adulthood affecting the quality of life. Currently, diagnosing a child's ADHD relies on subjective questionnaires filled out by a parent and an interview. The detection of changes in brain activity especially during everyday activities could bring important information that could help inform the diagnostics of ADHD. The changes in brain activity in persons diagnosed with ADHD during familiar, everyday events have been studied very little. However, ADHD brain imaging studies done during resting state and simple tasks have found changes in large-scale brain networks. These networks can be studied using functional connectivity approach, where the degree of synchronous activity in different brain regions is used to determine the connection strength between these regions. In this thesis, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the differences in the functional connectivity of the whole brain between children diagnosed with ADHD (n=17) and controls (n=19) were investigated during a virtual reality task that simulates everyday life (EPELI), watching natural-like videos, and resting state. Connectivity matrices were generated with the NiLearn Toolbox program using Seitzman and colleagues' (2018) 300-area parcellation. The connectivity of the whole brain was examined using Network-Based Statistics. During movie watching the ADHD group showed increased connectivity compared to the control group in a network that included several areas of the motor cortex. This may indicate a role for these regions in the hyperactivity symptoms of ADHD. The same network also included the right superior temporal gyrus, which has previously been linked to impulsivity symptoms in individuals diagnosed with ADHD. During the virtual reality task and resting state, no differences in connectivity were observed between the groups. However, differences between the experimental situations were revealed in several networks when the connectivity was compared within the groups. Many of these networks were very extensive and included several subcortical and cerebellar structures in addition to cortical areas. Both the control and ADHD groups showed increased connectivity in the resting state compared to EPELI. This could possibly be due to the differences in the participants' actions during the task performance. To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is the first to examine the functional connectivity of brains diagnosed with ADHD during naturalistic stimuli. The clear differences between the controls and the ADHD group during movie watching are promising for future naturalistic brain studies. Based on the results, network models are effective in studying the functional connectivity of ADHD under different conditions. However, consideration for similarity of activities during the virtual task could have led to the detection of larger differences.
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(2020)It is widely acknowledged that previous efforts to communicate the severity and rate of climate change have failed. Science communication has for decades relied on the presumption that more information leads to more informed decisions, thus so far, the scientific consensus about human-caused climate change has not resulted in required changes in behaviour. Previous communication efforts have, for the most part, attributed inaction to the lack of information, but in doing so, have excluded many social and psychological elements of communication. Although raising the level of awareness about climate change has been successful, climate change remains to be perceived to be a distal threat. Recently, more sophisticated approaches have been developed to meaningfully communicate climate change, drawing attention to the framing of the communication. In this study, a new approach to science-based environmental communication is evaluated. The case study seeks to address how immersive Virtual Reality (VR) can be used as a tool in science-based environmental communication for policymakers in a locally relevant context. Via immersive VR, information about forests’ role in climate change is mediated to forest policymakers. In the science communication, climate change is framed as an experiential, local, and present risk, promoting a problem definition that focuses on the climate effects of forest utilisation. I evaluate the success of the science-based environmental communication by measuring participants’ personal responses. I focus on measuring enjoyment, interest, trust, and usability. The study participants are members of the Parliament of Finland and governmental officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; and the Ministry of the Environment. The study material consists of feedback forms from participants (N=65) and interviews of the key actors (N=7). To consider the historical background and many conflicting interests in Finnish forest and climate politics, I focus on the comparison between the natural resource position and the environmental position. The results of this study offer compelling evidence for how differently policymakers representing these two positions perceive the usage of immersive VR in science-based environmental communication. The environmental position indicated significantly higher levels of success on all measured components. Considering that the science communication framed forest utilisation as an environmental issue, it is not surprising that participants holding the environmental position perceived the science communication to be more enjoyable, interesting, trustworthy, and usable. Accordingly, the study results provide additional support for the idea of Finnish forest policy as a polarised field of policy with two main positions. With the means of immersive VR, I was able to induce strong personal responses to the science communication. Participants holding the natural resource position were more likely to challenge the legitimacy of the information and the use of VR in science communication than participants holding the environmental position. The results point to the likelihood that communicating climate change via immersive VR can induce strong negative emotions in the participants, but when the communication is comparable with the policymaker's policy preferences, they respond more positively. The study results also suggest, that to communicate climate change more meaningfully, immersive VR should be further explored as a supplementary tool in science communication.
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