Giulia Benvegnù

• PhD in Brain Mind and Computer Science; Master’s Degree in Neuroscience and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation
• PostDoc Position at University of Verona

Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are widely employed to investigate human behavior in dangerous situations that cannot be safely reproduced in the real world, allowing researchers to study in an ecological way complex scenarios such as training for risky jobs, safety procedures, emergencies and, more recently, moral dilemmas in driving contex...

Virtual Reality (VR) allows to re-create risky situations in a safe and realistic environment and, in recent years, it has been proposed as a versatile training tool for fire emergencies. However, there is still the need to compare VR with other training formats, to better understand when and how it is advantageous to invest in virtual systems for...

Introduction: Although the effects of proximal smoking cues have been widely studied in smokers, little is known on the features associated with background spatial context effect, that is, "context reactivity." The aim of this study was to investigate context reactivity exhibited by smokers in virtual cue-free domestic scenarios. Methods: Sixty-...

Virtual Reality (VR) is a popular technology to recreate reality-like scenarios, including dangerous ones, in a realistic but safe way. Because of this potential, VR based research has been applied in psychology studies to provide training and education about how to behave in emergencies such as fires, earthquakes, floods, or typhoons. All these di...

Introduction Benzodiazepines (BDZs) are among the most abused substances worldwide, and high-dose BDZ abuse is considered a specific type of addiction. Cue reactivity (CR) is a hypersensitivity to motivational stimuli and, in substance use disorders, it increases craving and facilitates relapse, especially in chronic users. Virtual reality (VR) may...

The incidence of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s Disease, characterized by a progressive cognitive decline, is rising worldwide. Despite the considerable efforts to unveil the neuropsychological bases of these diseases, there is still an unmet medical need for effective therapies against cognitive deficits. In recent yea...

Background: Preclinical studies suggested the exposure to environmental enrichment (EE) as an intervention able to prevent or reduce nicotine-taking and nicotine-seeking behaviors. Virtual reality (VR) may help to test the effects of EE in smokers in a reproducible and feasible manner. Materials and Methods: In the present study, 31 smokers (14 wom...

Introduction It is known that exposure to the natural environment may positively modulate mental processes and behaviors; in particular, it can reduce stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. This suggests a potential integration of “nature experience” into the treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) since various types of addiction are associa...

Rationale Environmental enrichment (EE) is a non-pharmacological approach that has been shown to be effective in reducing food-taking in rats. Studies in human volunteers are still in their infancy, given the difficulty to translate the complexity of EE in clinical practice. Virtual reality (VR) is a promising methodological approach, but no study...

Exposure to smoking-related stimuli may induce the reconsolidation of smoking-related memories in smokers. Research has proposed that extinction applied after the retrieval of a smoking memory may inhibit reconsolidation and prevent craving. The aim of this study was to test the effect of postretrieval extinction (PRE) on the reconsolidation of smo...

Nowadays, Virtual Reality (VR) is widely used in the tourism industry, improving the tourist experience in several cultural heritage sites. However, little interest has been paid to naturalistic sites. This paper describes the project “This is (not) just a tree” that aims to develop a system offering an educational and engaging experience to allow...

Abstract retrieved from EAWOP 2019 Abstract Book available at http://www.eawop.org/ckeditor_assets/attachments/1285/eawop-2019_abstract-book_rev2_compressed-2.pdf?1583929976 (p. 1624)

Unlike other technologies, VR allows the use of contents in an interactive and experiential way; it represents a radical change in the media experience: the subject goes from observer of an action to its protagonist. The crucial aspect of this technology is the ability to create extremely realistic situations, characterized by a high level of immer...