LSU’s Innovative VR Approach to Help Students with ADHD Focus
- A professor at LSU, David Shepherd, and his team are using virtual reality (VR) technology to assist students with ADHD in staying focused on their studies.
- Initially, Shepherd's study focused on improving productivity for office workers.
- The headsets and noise-canceling headphones create a quiet space, allowing students to focus solely on their work.
LSU Research Uses VR to Help Students with ADHD
A professor at LSU, David Shepherd, and his team are using virtual reality (VR) technology to assist students with ADHD in staying focused on their studies. They aim to provide an alternative treatment without medication. The project includes LSU graduate students and collaborators from Rutgers University and the University of Zurich, funded by the National Institute for Mental Health.
Initially, Shepherd’s study focused on improving productivity for office workers. However, the idea to help students arose when a student with ADHD asked to use VR to study in a distracting dorm environment.
VR technology effectively blocks out external distractions. The headsets and noise-canceling headphones create a quiet space, allowing students to focus solely on their work. The VR system also connects to a computer, allowing users to see their screen within the virtual environment.
LSU student Jayden Armstrong shared a feature he enjoys: a virtual stoplight that indicates focus levels. The light changes from green to yellow to red, offering motivation to maintain attention.
Shepherd emphasized the uniqueness of their approach. While other studies use VR for diagnosing ADHD, his team focuses on treatment. They have already conducted trials with 25 students, who completed over 250 hours of VR sessions.
This year, the study will expand to include 45-50 students participating in 12 sessions each. If results remain positive, they plan to scale up the trials to include hundreds of students.