The Colorado State University has launched the Virtual Reality Initiative to bring VR to their students. In their recent ‘Virtual Reality Hackathon’, William Warren, Vice President and Head of Innovation Programs at Sanofi Pasteur (part of the pharmaceutical company Sanofi) gave a speech outlining research that is testing the use of VR headsets to replace drugs for the treatment of allergies.
As reported by The Rocky Mountains Collegian, the group used VR headsets to treat people with cat allergies without using the drugs usually prescribed for such ailment. The idea is that allergies are typically triggered by allergens that informs the body of a critical situation. They used the headset to make the brain believe that there are cats around without any allergens present. Over time, the idea is that the brain builds up some resistance to cats even in the real world.
They describe this as tapping into the body’s own pharmacy, the brain.
Analyst Comment
This is a very interesting result and shows what VR may be doing to our brain. The group basically showed that VR will have a direct impact on our world perception and what we believe is reality. As it seems we are not able to distinguish completely between a virtual and the real reality. At least on an instinctive level, VR tricks our brain into believing what we see. (NH)
