Advances in Virtual Reality

The interactive computer-generated world of virtual reality has been successful in treat¬ing phobias and other anxiety-related conditions, in part because of its distinct advan¬tages over traditional in vivo exposure. Yet many clinicians still think of VR technology as it was in the 1990s–bulky, costly, technically difficult–with little knowledge of its evolution toward more modern, evidence-based, practice-friendly treatment.

This BOOK constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence, ICAT 2006, held in Hangzhou, China in November/December 2006.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces, ICMI 2000, held in Beijing, China in October 2000. The 38 revised full papers and 48 poster papers presented in the book were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 172 submissions.

While virtual reality (VR) has influenced fields as varied as gaming, archaeology and the visual arts, some of its most promising applications come from the health sector. Particularly encouraging are the many uses of VR in supporting the recovery of motor skills following accident or illness.