Virtual Reality War Zones and PTSD - The Science of Attraction

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VIRTUAL REALITY WAR ZONES and PTSD Dr Raj Persaud discovers how computer games are being developed into virtual reality war zones in order to treat traumatised soldiers. Raj Persaud experiences first hand a version of the American’s Virtual Iraq. He is joined by Professor Paul Sharkey, Director of the Visualisation Centre at Reading University, Dr David Purves, Head of the Berkshire Traumatic Stress Service, and Researcher Ronan Jamieson, to find out how virtual reality is being used as a therapeutic tool to treat combat troops returning from Iraq who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A team led by Professor Skip Rizzo at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies has built the prototype called Virtual Iraq using the art assets from Full Spectrum Warrior. Professor Rizzo explains why the realism provided by Virtual Reality was so important in the therapeutic process. THE SCIENCE OF ATTRACTION Have psychologists finally unlocked the secrets of attraction? Why do British men prefer slimmer women whereas the Samoans fall for females with the fuller figure? Philosopher David Hume declared “Beauty is no quality in things themselves; it exists merely in the mind that contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.” But is it really the case that beauty, particularly personal physical attractiveness, defies scientific measurement because it’s purely subjective? Dr Viren Swami, Evolutionary and Social Psychologist and Research Associate at the University of Liverpool and the author of The Missing Arms of Venus de Milo, Reflections of the Science of Attractiveness explains why beauty can be objectively and scientifically defined.