Virtual reality environments to rehabilitation attention deficits in schizophrenic patients

Cognitive dysfunction is regarded as a core feature of schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia showed poor performance on tasks that require vigilance or sustained attention. The study aimed at developing a Virtual Reality cognitive training to improve the selective, divided and sustained attention. Two clinical samples of patients with schizophrenic disorder were involved: an experimental group treated with pharmacological therapy and Virtual Reality cognitive training; a control group received pharmacological therapy and Integrated Psychological Treatment. Both VR training and IPT were associated with improved performance in sustained attention tasks. After the training, the experimental group showed improvements in planning and divided attention. This preliminary investigation suggests that virtual reality training may improve cognitive functioning in patients with psychosis.