A new educational approach focused on healthcare professionals involves monitoring a trainee’s body language and mental state during simulated patient encounters.

While interacting with a patient mannequin and an actor portraying one of the patient’s caregivers or visitors, a special headset tracks the subject’s brain activity for signs of frustration and other emotions. Developers believe the technology may help identify new learning opportunities that can help trainees better address and resolve conflicts in real world settings.

Click here to read more about this research and Holodecks at NYU.