There is potential for AR to be used as a learning tool. It could allow the user to experience things that would not usually be possible or available, letting the user engage in new environments. It would be useful in engaging learners, including helping those who find the usual reading and writing style of learning difficult. It could also be used as a training tool, maybe for organisations such as the army, allowing soldiers to train without the possibility of casualties.
In a similar way, AR can be used to assist people overcome fears, and aid in studying their behavior. A paper (Juani Bretón-López, Soledad Quero, Cristina Botella, Azucena García-Palacios, Rosa Maria Baños, Mariano Alcañiz. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking - An Augmented Reality System Validation for the Treatment of Cockroach Phobia. December 2010) details the use of AR in exposure therapy, which is used to assist people in overcoming deep phobias. The basic idea of exposure therapy is that the person with the phobia is exposed to the subject of that phobia, with the intensity building up over time, and nothing negative happening to them as a result of this exposure.
The paper talks about the use of cockroaches and AR - six participants, all with a phobia of cockroaches. When faced with the simulated cockroaches, they all reported strong negative feelings and anxiety. These feelings are (most likely) the same as when faced with real cockroaches. This leads to the possible use of AR in exposure therapy, which may be beneficial for treating other phobias, such as fear of flying or heights, without having to expose the sufferer to these situations first hand.
It's something to think about - could our project involve a message or function outside of being entertaining?
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