The Stress Resilience In Virtual Environments (STRIVE) project aims to create a set of combat simulations (adapted from existing Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan exposure therapy system) that are part of a multi-episode narrative experience. Users can be immersed within challenging combat contexts and interact with virtual characters within these episodes as part of an experiential learning approach. Such approaches, often referred to as Stress Inoculation Training, have been found to reduce the neuroendocrine response, increase coping competence and reduce cortisol response. STRIVE is currently developing three combat modules with a narrative arc that includes increasingly intense combat situations, relational development, stress and loss, and emotional trauma. The goal is to raise the service member's threshold for the stress of combat.

Virtual environment (VE) technology is increasingly being recognized as a useful medium for the study, assessment, and rehabilitation of cognitive processes and functional abilities. The capacity of VE technology to create dynamic three-dimensional (3D) stimulus environments, within which all behavioral responding can be recorded, offers clinical assessment and rehabilitation options that are not available using traditional neuropsychological methods. This work has the potential to advance the scientific study of normal cognitive and behavioral processes and to improve our capacity to understand, measure, and treat the impairments typically found in clinical populations with central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. The paper provides a rationale for the application of VE technology in the areas of neuropsychological assessment and cognitive rehabilitation, presents a tabled summary of the VE literature targeting cognitive/functional processes in clinical CNS populations and briefly describes two of our VE applications targeting attention and visuospatial processing.