Correlation between virtual reality’s intervention and monitored brain activity: A systematic review

Abstract

While conducting dual-task training on patients with neurological disorders, it is crucial to comprehend brain activity changes during performance. Therefore, this systematic review"s goal is to examine the literature on the usage of virtual reality in patients with postural and cognitive dysfunctions while assessing areas of brain activity through a non-invasive neuroimaging tool - fNIRS. We conducted research using PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Science Direct databases, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital library. Keywords were ‘VR’ OR ‘virtual reality’ AND ‘dual-ask’ AND ‘fNIRS’ or ‘Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy’. Search of the literature revealed a total of three articles, which investigated exercising programs’ effects on motor and cognitive function improvement while monitoring brain activation with fNIRS in older and young adults. All three studies showed improvement in cognition after performing VR tasks and its correlation with cortical activation after VR intervention. Future studies should include more longitudinal studies to explore the potential mechanism of VR and more studies on different types of neurological diseases.