Use of Virtual Reality in Neurorehabilitation: How the Effects of Immersion and Presence May Contribute to Motor and Cognitive Recovery

This paper discusses the effects of virtual reality immersion in the functional recovery of neurological patients. To do so, we conducted a review of the literature after identifying relevant articles published between 2000 and 2013. The results of this review show that high levels of immersion can cause a greater sensation of presence, which can make some applications more effective. The most important level is the realistic experience that immersive VR prompts the user to have. By requiring to have a high level of sensory, visual, auditory and haptic fidelity, the immersive virtual environment enables the experience in the virtual world to correspond, as far as possible, to experiencing the real world being simulated.