As I get into the swing of things, I find that I am enjoying the work more and more. The older adults are incredibly inspirational – many of them are still fully cognizant, well, and mobile, even at 82 years old. It really puts into perspective how one’s health is in their own hands. Every single person who has come in has a very unique personality, everyone from the shyest to the most extroverted, and I’ve noticed that many older people comment on how they shed their fear of judgement and left that behind with their more naive selves.

I was initially surprised by how many older people were willing to try something new, as I thought to myself how many people my age would be willing to look so silly in front of strangers. I told this to a participant yesterday, who asked me whether I would do it, at my current age. It was an interesting question to consider, as she told me that my answer now would not be so different from my answer at age 99. It’s an important limitation of the study, that we are biased towards people willing to try new things.

 

The below images show what the VR environment look like.