Does anxiety interfere with stimuli perception?5 answersAnxiety can interfere with stimuli perception. Individuals with higher trait anxiety prioritize the processing of angry cues when combining conflicting emotions in audiovisual stimuli. Anticipatory information regarding uncertainty about upcoming threatening and neutral stimuli can impact attention and perception in anxiety. Anxiety disrupts behavioral adaptation to environmental statistics and attenuates brain activity evoked by surprising sounds. Anxiety enhances attentional capture and delays disengagement from both threatening and positive valence stimuli. More anxious individuals have stronger biases towards perceiving stimuli as facing the viewer, which may be related to the sociobiological relevance of the stimuli and inhibitory ability.
How do vestibular problems affect the daily life of patients?5 answersVestibular problems can have a significant impact on the daily life of patients. These problems can lead to physical disability, altered quality of life, and difficulties in performing daily activities such as dressing, bathing, and getting in and out of bed. Patients with vestibular disorders often experience problems with balance, spatial orientation, vertigo, dizziness, and eye movements. These symptoms can result in a severe handicap and affect the ability to participate in activities of daily living. Vestibular disorders can also lead to postural asymmetry, gait problems, visual disturbances, and internal spatial disorientation. Unfortunately, many patients with vestibular complaints cannot be diagnosed or treated effectively. However, ongoing research is exploring new diagnostic and treatment options that could improve outcomes for patients in the future.
How Virtual Reality Impacts Anxiety?5 answersVirtual Reality (VR) interventions have shown promise in treating anxiety disorders in adults. Studies have found that VR interventions led to significant reductions in symptoms for various anxiety disorders, including specific phobias, PTSD, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. VR has also been found to be acceptable to clients and associated with minimal side effects, except for Combat-Related PTSD in Vietnam veterans. Additionally, VR has been effective in reducing preoperative anxiety and improving hemodynamic parameters in patients undergoing septorhinoplasty. In the treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), both virtual reality exposure therapy and in vivo exposure therapy have shown significant efficacy, with virtual reality exposure therapy being more beneficial in terms of cost, time, confidentiality, and practitioner burden. Overall, VR interventions have the potential to be a viable alternative to conventional exposure therapy for anxiety disorders, with positive impacts on symptoms and patient outcomes.
What is the incidence of bilateral vestibular hypofunction?5 answersThe incidence of bilateral vestibular hypofunction varies across different studies. One study found that bilateral vestibular hypofunction comprised 0.9% of the total population seen at a specialized dizziness clinic. Another study reported that 3.77% of patients in the first period and 4.58% in the second period met the criteria for bilateral vestibular hypofunction in a tertiary level hospital. Additionally, a population-based study found that the prevalence of unilateral or bilateral vestibular hypofunction among tested symptomatic participants was 6.7%. These findings suggest that bilateral vestibular hypofunction is relatively rare, but the exact incidence may vary depending on the population and diagnostic criteria used.
How does vestibular sense affect motion sickness?5 answersThe vestibular sense plays a crucial role in motion sickness. Sensory conflicts within the vestibular system can lead to motion sickness. Misalignment of the bilateral vestibular organs can create sensory conflicts related to self-motion. Vestibular morphological asymmetry, such as a larger position asymmetry of the vestibular organs, is associated with higher susceptibility to motion sickness. Abnormalities in vestibular tests, such as eye movement recordings and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) results, can be observed in individuals with motion sickness. These findings suggest that signals from any part of the vestibular organ can contribute to sensory conflicts and trigger motion sickness. The vestibular system's response to unexpected motion stimuli, whether real or illusory, can lead to the physiological response of motion sickness.
How does dysautonomia affect the vestibular system?4 answersDysautonomia can affect the vestibular system by causing bilateral absence of response to tests of vestibular function. Studies have shown that there is an association between symptoms of dysautonomia and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which may be one of the possible causes of certain vestibular diseases. Vestibular-autonomic connections play a role in adjusting blood pressure and respiration during movement and postural changes. Although compensation occurs after peripheral vestibular lesions, resulting in rapid recovery of autonomic disturbances, evidence suggests that vestibular inputs influence autonomic regulation. Dysautonomia can also lead to deficits in spatial memory, which may be connected to dyscalculia, a numerical cognition disorder, as numerosity is coupled to the processing of spatial information.