Route learning in a case of amnesia: A preliminary investigation into the efficacy of training in a virtual environment

A patient with amnesia was trained in route finding around a hospital rehabilitation unit using a detailed computer-generated non-immersive 3D virtual environment based on the real unit. Prior to the training, she was unable to perform 10 simple routes around the real unit, all involving locations which she visited regularly. She was tested at weekly intervals on these same 10 routes around the real unit during the course of the study. Her first course of training involved practising two of the 10 routes in the virtual environment for 15 minutes each weekday. After three weeks' training, she successfully performed these two routes in the real unit and she retained her knowledge of these routes for the remainder of the study, despite not receiving any further training on these routes. For her second course of training, two more of the original 10 routes were chosen, one of which she practised in the virtual environment and one in the real unit. Within two weeks, she had learned the route practised in the virtual environment, but not the route practised in the real unit, and she also retained her knowledge of this route. The results of this preliminary study indicate that training in virtual environments may prove an effective method of teaching new information to patients with severe memory impairments.