Feasibility and Efficacy of a Virtual Reality Social Prediction Training in Children and Young Adults with Congenital Cerebellar Malformations.

Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7904301 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1573-3432 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01623257 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Autism Dev Disord Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2006- >: New York, NY : Springer
Original Publication: New York, Plenum Press.

Virtual Reality* ; Cerebellum*/abnormalities ; Cerebellar Diseases*/rehabilitation ; Cerebellar Diseases*/psychology ; Cerebellar Diseases*/congenital; Humans ; Male ; Female ; Child ; Feasibility Studies ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Theory of Mind ; Treatment Outcome

Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors report there are no competing interests to declare. Ethical Approval: The study procedures were in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the ethical committee of the IRCCS Medea (Prot. N.17/18). Informed Consent: Before starting any procedure, participants or their parents/legal guardians were informed about aims and methods of the study and asked to sign informed consent.
This study tested the feasibility and efficacy of a Virtual Reality (VR) social prediction training (VR-Spirit) specifically designed for patients with congenital cerebellar malformation. The study is a randomised controlled trial in which 28 cerebellar patients aged 7-25 yo were randomly allocated to the VR-Spirit or to a control intervention in VR. The VR-Spirit required participants to compete with different avatars in scenarios that prompted them to form predictions about avatars' intentions. The control intervention consisted of games currently adopted for motor rehabilitation. Social prediction as well as secondary neuropsychological and behavioural outcomes were assessed at the beginning (T0), at the end (T2) and after 2 months (T3). The experimental group showed a significant increase, compared to the control participants, in social prediction assessed through a VR task. Moreover, at least at T3, the VR-Spirit enhanced the use of contextual predictions in a computer-based action prediction task. Importantly, these effects were generalized to secondary neuropsychological outcomes, specifically theory of mind and, only at T2, inhibition. No differences between the interventions were detected on emotional-behavioural problems. Lastly, both interventions showed high feasibility and acceptability. These findings confirm that it is possible to develop condition-specific rehabilitative training on the basis of neurocognitive functions impaired in case of congenital malformation. The VR-Spirit demonstrated to generalize its effects to theory of mind abilities, and it might be thus extended to other neurodevelopmental disorders that present social perception deficits and alterations of predictive processing.Trial registration: ISRCTN, ID: ISRCTN22332873. Retrospectively registered on 12 March 2018.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)

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Ricerca Corrente 2021-2022-2023 - Scientific Institute Ministero della Salute; IRCCS E. Medea Ministero della Salute; Ricerca Finalizzata 2016: GR-2016-02363640 Ministero della Salute; PRIN 2020 Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca; Prot. 20203LT7H3 Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca

Keywords: Cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome—CCAS; Cerebellum; Rehabilitation; Social prediction; Theory of mind; Virtual reality

Date Created: 20240503 Date Completed: 20250614 Latest Revision: 20250617

20250617

PMC12167251

10.1007/s10803-024-06349-8

38700776