Using Virtual Reality to induce positive affect and explore the impact on wellbeing and anhedonia University of Adelaide in Australia

We are currently looking for a PhD student with interests in cognitive training, affective science and use of VR technologies to work on a fully funded project in collaboration with a medical technology start-up Brain Vector on an exciting project:Using Virtual Reality to induce positive affect and explore the impact on wellbeing and anhedonia.One of the most disturbing aspects of depression is the inability to take pleasure and enjoyment from everyday events. Technically called “anhedonia”, this inability to feel joy and pleasure from life is often described by people as being more difficult to deal with than the sad thoughts and negative thinking patterns that also come with clinical depression. This PhD project, developed collaboratively between Prof Elaine Fox at the University of Adelaide and the medical technology start-up company Brain Vector, will tackle this challenging problem head on by using virtual reality (VR) technology in a highly innovative way. The research will investigate the effects of VR-induced positive affect on mental wellbeing and anhedonia in a healthy population and will explore how personalised VR experiences, alone and in combination with cognitive bias modification (CBM) and other cognitive training interventions, can stimulate positive emotions in people varying in levels of dysphoria and negative mood states. Data from this project will lay the groundwork for interventions to potentially alleviate symptoms of anhedonia, which is especially difficult to treat. The project forms part of a larger research program exploring the development of innovative, non-pharmaceutical interventions to address the escalating global mental health crisis.For more info and to apply see this link:https://lnkd.in/gsi6d4bK…more