Fooling the Brain: Investigating the Clinical Utility of Visual Illusions with Augmented Reflection Technology

Abstract

Augmented Reflection Technology (ART) has clinical utility for the rehabilitation of brain disorders. To date there is no cure for brain disorders like Phantom Limb Pain and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, and rehabilitation outcomes for stroke using conventional therapy are only moderate. Visual Illusions, such as Mirror Visual Illusions, have been shown in research to have therapeutic effects for these disorders; however they struggle to demonstrate their efficacy in clinical practice. In this thesis, principles from Information and Computer Science are applied to rehabilitation. In particular, it is shown that Augmented Reflection Technology has clinical utility for the rehabilitation of brain disorders with unilateral impairments of the upper limb, such as chronic pain management and post-stroke therapy. The results of four studies with healthy participants provided evidence that visual illusions generated with ART are able to influence perception and fool humans about properties of their hands. In particular it was shown that mirror visual illusions generated with ART can lead participants to perceive the displayed and visually manipulated hand(s) as their hand(s). Since mirror visual illusion was shown in literature to have therapeutic efficacy and ART was demonstrated in this thesis to generate mirror visual illusions, it is concluded that ART also has therapeutic efficacy. Next to therapeutic efficacy, evidence of ART’s clinical utility is provided by the results of an empirical usability evaluation with healthy participants, by analysing the opinions of physiotherapists who evaluated the system in laboratory settings as well as by a feasibility study in a clinical setting with patients suffering from impairments after stroke.