National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67 Klecany, Czech Republic.
Institute of Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences, Pod Vodárenskou Věží 271/2, 182 07 Praha 8, Czech Republic.
Biomed Res Int. 2018 Jun 13;2018:2716134. doi: 10.1155/2018/2716134. eCollection 2018.
Augmented reality (AR) glasses with GPS navigation represent the rapidly evolving technology which spares (and externalizes) navigational capacities. Regarding the expected everyday usage of this device, its impact on neuroplastic brain changes and navigation abilities should be evaluated.
This study aimed to assess possible changes in functional connectivity (FC) of hippocampus and other brain regions involved in spatial navigation.
Thirty-three healthy participants completed two resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) measurements at the baseline and after 3 months. For this period, the experimental group (n = 17) has had used AR device (Vuzix M100) with incorporated GPS guidance system during navigation in real world. Participants from the control group (n = 16) have not used any GPS device while navigating during walking. The rsfMRI FC of right and left hippocampi was analyzed using a seed-driven approach. Virtual city task was used to test navigational abilities both before and after the usage of AR device.
We identified strong functional coupling of right and left hippocampi at the baseline (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). Mild changes in bilateral hippocampal FC (p < 0.05, FDR uncorrected) were observed in both assessed groups mainly between the bilateral hippocampi and between each hippocampus and temporal regions and cerebellum. However, the experimental group showed FC decrease after three months of using GPS navigation implemented in AR glasses in contrast to FC increase in the control group without such intervention. Importantly, no effect of intervention on navigational abilities was observed.
Our observation supports the assumption that externalization of spatial navigation to technological device (GPS in AR glasses) can decrease the functional coupling between hippocampus and associated brain regions. Considering some limitations of the present study, further studies should elucidate the mechanism of the observed changes and their impact on cognitive abilities.
具有 GPS 导航功能的增强现实 (AR) 眼镜代表了导航能力得到扩展的快速发展的技术。考虑到该设备的预期日常使用，应评估其对神经可塑性脑变化和导航能力的影响。
本研究旨在评估海马体和其他参与空间导航的脑区的功能连接 (FC) 可能发生的变化。
33 名健康参与者在基线和 3 个月后完成了两次静息态功能磁共振成像 (rsfMRI) 测量。在此期间，实验组 (n = 17) 在现实世界中导航时使用了带有内置 GPS 导航系统的 AR 设备 (Vuzix M100)。对照组 (n = 16) 的参与者在步行导航时未使用任何 GPS 设备。使用种子驱动方法分析右侧和左侧海马体的 rsfMRI FC。使用虚拟城市任务在使用 AR 设备前后测试导航能力。
我们在基线时发现了右侧和左侧海马体之间的强功能耦合 (p < 0.05，经 FDR 校正)。在两个评估组中，双侧海马体的 FC 均发生了轻微变化 (p < 0.05，未经 FDR 校正)，主要发生在双侧海马体之间，以及每个海马体与颞叶和小脑之间。然而，实验组在使用增强现实眼镜中的 GPS 导航三个月后显示出 FC 下降，而对照组在没有这种干预的情况下显示出 FC 增加。重要的是，干预对导航能力没有影响。
我们的观察结果支持了这样一种假设，即空间导航的外部化到技术设备 (AR 眼镜中的 GPS) 可以降低海马体和相关脑区之间的功能耦合。考虑到本研究的一些局限性，进一步的研究应该阐明观察到的变化的机制及其对认知能力的影响。
