Cultivating imagination: development and pilot test of a therapeutic use of an immersive virtual reality CAVE

As informatics applications grow from being data collection tools to platforms for action, the boundary between what constitutes informatics applications and therapeutic interventions begins to blur. Emerging computer-driven technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and mHealth apps may serve as clinical interventions. As part of a larger project intended to provide complements to cognitive behavioral approaches to health behavior change, an interactive scenario was designed to permit unstructured play inside an immersive 6-sided VR CAVE. In this pilot study we examined the technical and functional performance of the CAVE scenario, human tolerance of immersive CAVE experiences, and explored human imagination and the manner in which activity in the CAVE scenarios varied by an individual's level of imagination. Nine adult volunteers participated in a pilot-and-feasibility study. Participants tolerated 15 minute long exposure to the scenarios, and navigated through the virtual world. Relationship between personal characteristics and behaviors are reported and explored.