New generation of virtual humans helping to train psychologists

New generation of virtual humans helping to train psychologists: New technology has led to the creation of virtual humans who can interact with therapists via a computer screen and realistically mimic the symptoms of a patient with clinical psychological disorders, according to new research presented at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention. As this technology continues to improve, it will have a significant impact on how clinical training is conducted in psychology and medicine, said psychologist and virtual reality technology expert Albert Skip Rizzo, PhD, who demonstrated recent advancements in virtual reality for use in psychology. Rizzo's virtual reality laboratory is working on the next generation of virtual patients using information from this and related user tests, and will further modify the characters for military clinical training, which the U.S. Department of Defense is funding, he said. Some future patients that are in development are virtual veterans with depression and suicidal thoughts, for use in training clinicians and other military personnel how to recognize the risk for suicide or violence.

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