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VISION virtual car crash project: Quantifying sex-differentiated norms of stress-system reactivity in humans

 

This study will explore and characterize the psychological, physiological, and psychophysical reactions to a virtual reality-based car crash simulation, and identify characteristics of responders and non-responders.

Project status: In progress

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The goal of this program of research is to acquire new knowledge on the range of normal psychophysical reactions to motor vehicle collision (MVC), predict the magnitude of reaction based on person-level variables of sex, gender, age, and prior trauma, and test causal pathways of pain and distress development using advanced virtual reality integrated with proprioceptive robotic experience. This work will further the field of stress and trauma research through new knowledge on ‘normal’ reactions, identify who reacts most strongly, and what aspects of trauma are most distressing. Findings may be used to inform future ecological or clinical trials of stress-mitigating interventions intended to prevent the genesis of post-traumatic chronic disease states.

Purpose

1: Characterize the range of physiological and psychophysical responses to simulated trauma exposure

2: Predict the range of physiological and psychophysical responses

Funding

Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant – D. Walton PI