Research Projects

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and a poorly understood condition. This research focuses on sensorimotor changes, a salient yet often disregarded aspect of depression. A virtual reality (VR) setup offers improved ecological validity by offering naturalistic environments while retaining strict control of standardised testing. The project aims to construct and validate a VR-based assessment method of sensorimotor alteration and investigate the sensorimotor profiles of depressed and non-depressed individuals using the validated VR test battery. The scientific objectives include developing and validating a VR-based test battery for sensorimotor alteration in depression, evaluating sensorimotor alterations in depressed and non-depressed populations using questionnaire-based methods, traditional behavioral/psychophysical evaluation, and a VR test battery, and testing whether a VR-based method offers any advantage over traditional methods in detecting sensorimotor alterations in depression. The main experiments will involve participants with depression and healthy controls going through a battery of evaluations, including structured clinical interviews, common behavioral tests, and a VR-based task to evaluate sensorimotor processing. The VR setup will be validated by comparing it to the native behavioral test battery, both biometrically and behaviorally. The VR-test battery has the potential to become an important instrument for sensory and motor changes in depression and a valuable adjunct to existing neuropsychological assessment. The results of this study will provide new insights into sensorimotor alterations in depression and its variability within and between neurotypical and depressed populations.