Hippocampal activation was investigated, comparing allocentric and egocentric spatial memory. Healthy participants were immersed in a virtual reality circular arena, with pattern-rendered walls. In a viewpoint-independent task, they moved toward a pole, which was then removed. They were relocated to another position and had to move to the prior location of the pole. For viewpoint-dependent memory, the participants were not moved to a new starting point, but the patterns were rotated to prevent them from indicating the final position. Hippocampal and parahippocampal activation were found in the viewpoint-independent memory encoding phase. Viewpoint-dependent memory did not result in such activation. These results suggest differential activation of the hippocampal formation during allocentric encoding, in partial support of the spatial mapping hypothesis as applied to humans.

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Appropriate self‐regulation of exposure to driving in view of age‐related declines in driving ability is a significant problem for older individuals in the UK, as programmes designed to encourage and support self‐regulation are sorely lacking. This paper outlines the development of a CD‐based Mixed Media and Virtual Reality (MMVR) programme, consisting of: information and reference material; cognitive tests; and virtual reality (VR) driving simulator components, all of which are orientated to address the older driver. The research on the self‐regulation of driving that informs the rationale and development of the ‘shell’ of the MMVR programme is overviewed, followed by a description of state of development of the cognitive tests and VR driving simulation components of the CD. It is argued that the development of programmes such as that proposed in this paper are necessary to reconcile the mobility needs of the expanding UK elderly population and public safety concerns.

The use of a car has become an integral part of many peoples' lives. Regrettably, there are occasions when individuals may have good cause to be concerned about their driving competence, for example after having sustained a stroke or simply due to the effects of old age. Many such individuals need adequate guidance on the resumption/continuation of driving, but are left to base their decisions on selfassessment or advice from family and friends, neither of which are reliable. In the above instances, a comprehensive and objective off-road assessment would play an invaluable role in informing decisions about exposure to driving. We are currently developing and evaluating a virtual reality (VR) based driving assessment, which runs on a desktop PC and, therefore, would be easily accessible to the above groups of individuals. The first stage of the evaluation was simply to determine whether the VR driving assessment could distinguish between the performance of drivers and non-drivers and to compare the results obtained across these two groups with their performance on the Stroke Drivers Screening Assessment (SDSA). The VR driving assessment discriminated between drivers and non-drivers, whereas the SDSA did not. Nonetheless, two measures on the VR driving assessment correlated with drivers' scores on the SDSA.

In the past few years, the use of computer-generated interactive representations of real-life situations has become increasingly popular in fields as diverse as engineering, design, architecture, medicine and education. The immersive and interactive properties of virtual reality simulations are regularly used to supplement conventional training methods in such occupations as pilots, fire-fighters and soldiers, where real-life training is dangerous, expensive or difficult to monitor and control.