Welcome to our Spring 2020 ReGame-VR Lab Newsletter!
The Rehabilitation Games & Virtual Reality lab explores how children and youth with cerebral palsy or stroke learn new skills in virtual environments.
Our goal is to partner with families and clinicians to enhance functional outcomes for children and youth with neuromotor impairments!
We are happy to share our 2019 activities with you!
A Few of our Lab Activities & Events from 2019! Table of Contents
2 Opportunities to take part in our research studies! 3
Publications, Grants, Conferences, & Travel
4 Student Awards and Community Engagement
5 2019 -2020 Lab Members 6 2019 Lab Media mentions & Lab Contact Information
We are currently recruiting children with cerebral palsy or stroke and typically developing children for two studies in the lab!
Both studies consist of two, 1-1.5 hour sessions in the lab, 1-7 days apart. Families will receive a $40 gift card for each child who takes part in a study. We have availability during the day, evenings, and weekends. Parking or MBTA travel is reimbursed. We are very grateful for the support of the Boston Children’s Hospital Cerebral Palsy Clinic and the MGH Pediatric Stroke Clinic in our recruitment efforts, as well as the efforts ofall of our participating sites! Thank you so much for spreading the word about our research studies!
How do children learn a new throwing skill?
We are doing this study to understand how children with cerebral palsy or stroke and typically developing children learn a new throwing skill. We would like to understand whether practice conditions that allow for multiple solutions to skill success are more or less effective than practice conditions that allow for only one solution to skill success. We are also interested in how learning Screening survey for children the skill in each condition transfers to a new real-life skill! with CP/stroke: click here This research study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Screening survey for typically- developing children: click here
How does practice in a virtual environment enhance movement skill learning? We are doing this study to understand how children with CP or stroke and typically developing children learn a new balance skill in virtual versus physical environments. We would like to understand whether practice in a video game environment, a head mounted display virtual reality environment, or a regular environment is better for learning a new balance task. We are also interested in how learning the new skill transfers to the other environments.
This research is necessary because video games in virtual environments are being used frequently in physical therapy and because new 3D head-mounted displays will soon be low cost and widely-accessible, so we should understand whether they offer advantages over 2D Screening survey for children flat-screen displays. with CP/stroke: click here
Screening survey for Our study is the first to explore mechanisms that may enhance transfer typically- developing from virtual reality to real life skills in children with CP. The results will children: click here help researchers design better virtual environments and assist physical therapists in understanding which virtual environments most improve the movement skills of children with CP. Ultimately, this will enhance the quality of physical therapy treatments that use these tools and This research study is funded by promote optimal functional outcomes for children with neuromotor the Charles Hood Foundation Pediatric Research Grant. impairments.
Page 2 Publications, Grants, Conferences & Travel
Publications Conferences & Travel Levac DE, Huber M, Sternad D. (2019). Dr. Levac won the Early Career Learning and transfer of complex motor Investigator of the year award skills in virtual reality: a perspective from the International Society review. Journal of NeuroEngineering and for Virtual Rehabilitation at Rehabilitation;16: 121 the International Conference https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-019-058 on Virtual Rehabilitation in Tel 7-8 Aviv, Israel! Rohrbach N, Chicklis E, Levac DE. (2019). What is the impact of user affect on Dr. Levac was involved in three presentations at national & motor learning in virtual environments international conferences: after stroke? A scoping review. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Levac DE. (2019). Virtual reality as a Rehabilitation;16(1):79. doi: ‘Russian Doll’. International Conference 10.1186/s12984-019-0546-4. on Virtual Rehabilitation. July 24, Tel Aviv, Israel. Ryan JL, FV Wright, Levac DE. (2019). Exploring Physical Therapists’ Use of Levac DE. (2019). Exploring the active Motor Learning Strategies in Gait-based ingredients of motor learning in virtual Physical Therapy Interventions for environments. RehabWeek: World Children with Cerebral Palsy. Physical & Federation of Neurorehabilitation, June Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics:1-14. 24, Toronto, Canada. doi: 10.1080/01942638.2019.1622623. Levac DE, Payne B, Taylor M, Ward N. Proffitt R, Glegg S, Levac DE, Lange B. (2019). Influence of virtual environment (2019). End-user involvement in complexity on motor learning in Dr. Levac rehabilitation virtual reality typically developing children and presenting her implementation research. Journal of children with cerebral palsy. American poster at the Enabling Technologies: 13(2): 92-100. Academy of Cerebral Palsy & AACPDM https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-10-2018-00 Developmental Medicine, September conference. 50 20, 2019, Anaheim, CA.
Grants & Fellowships
Dr. Levac received a Small Equipment Grant from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation!
Dr. Levac received a travel fellowship from the Section on Research of American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) to visit Dr. Diane Damiano’s Clinical Movement Analysis Lab at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MA. This trip This grant will allow the lab to establish a allowed her to learn new skills and make mobile VR laboratory to move our research connections for subsequent research. studies out of the lab and into the community!
Page 3 Student and Community News
Student Award Alan Zhou (CCIS’21) was awarded a ‘Project-Based Exploration for the Advancement of Knowledge (PEAK) Experience’ Award in Fall 2019 for his project entitled ‘Virtual reality training environments to promote children’s resilience during new motor skill learning’! The virtual ball bouncing task.
Alan programmed a virtual ball bouncing task,and visitors to the Boston Children’s Museum trialed the game and gave us their feedback. With this feedback, we are making changes to the task and getting it ready for a research study exploring how
children respond to game settings that change Alan Zhou and Dr. Levac help a museum frequently, requiring them to adapt to different visitor try out the ball bouncing task. playing conditions.
Community Engagement
CP Family Education Day: 30 families and therapists attended this event in October, featuring a presentation by Dr. Andrew MIT Science Carnival and Gordon about family-centered interventions for Robot Zoo: Children tested arm and hand rehabilitation, and tours of NU’s our Leap sensor-controlled CP-focused research laboratories, including the robot! SMILe Lab and the CAD lab!
Other lab community events: High school students visited the lab as part of Northeastern’s Building Bridges program through the Center for STEM Education.
The lab had a booth at the 4th annual New England CP conference.
We are always open to elementary and middle school visits. If your school or community organization is interested in a field trip, please get in touch!
Page 4 2019-2020 Lab Members Welcome Minxin! Minxin joined the lab in September 2019 as our first PhD student through Northeastern’s PhD in Human Movement and Rehabilitation Science. Minxin has a background in assistive technology design and was a research assistant in Dr. Karen Adolph’s Action Lab at New York University.
Welcome Maame! Maame is a fourth year Health Sciences Major at Northeastern who is completing a co-op placement in the lab, January - July 2020. She will be helping with participant recruitment, data collection, and data analysis.
Thank you Liam! Current ReGame-VR Liam is a third year Lab Students
Computer Science Major Minxin Cheng who completed a co-op Maame Amoako placement in the lab, Liam Cristello January - July 2019. Liam Gowtham Nayak programmed several new Cameron Nurse research tasks in Unity 3D Alix Heudebourg for immersive virtual Kenny Tang environments, including Charlotte McLean the HTC Vive and the Shannon Ali Oculus Rift.
Page 5 Check out 2019 videos and news articles about the lab!
Check out the NU News Video about the lab, A short feature about Dr. Levac’s research was featuring 9 year old Mia Yale! published in Open Access Government
Dr. Levac was one of the experts consulted for the ‘The case for a course of virtual reality’ in US News & World Report!
The lab is always looking for students interested in involvement in the PTMRS PhD program, directed studies, research assistantships, work-study or volunteer roles!
Families and clinicians: we would love to hear from 16 year old Joey you! We will continue to email you the published and Research 6 year old results of the studies you took part in - thank you Coordinator Emily have fun during Mirabelle tries for all of your time and efforts! out one of our VR data collection. tasks.
Get in touch! Website: https://web.northeastern.edu/regamevrlab/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/regamevrlab/ Email: [email protected] Phone: (617) 373-6107 Twitter: @regamevr Instagram: @regamevr We look forward to a productive and collaborative year ahead in 2020! Dr. Levac speaks with NU students interested in 11 year old Gwen getting involved in the lab. completes a balance task in the lab.
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