E-Mail IMAGE: fMRI scans of a stroke patient before and after rehabilitation using non-immersive virtual reality software view more Credit: Raphael Casseb/UNICAMP By José Tadeu Arantes | Agência FAPESP – Virtual reality-based rehabilitation programs are becoming an important complement to conventional motor therapy for stroke patients and individuals with neurodegenerative diseases. Immersion in virtual environments stimulates several sensory systems, especially sight and hearing, and intensifies central nervous system information input and output. “The technology is expected to increase brain connectivity by stimulating the new neural connections needed to repair the losses caused by injury or by the patient’s clinical condition,”