Exploring the Science of Learning with Todd Maddox, VP of R&D at AppliedVR

A former academic's mission to translate brain research into healthcare products

Oct 22, 2023

Explorers is the spotlight series that brings together the people leading bold missions to improve health, technology, and society. Let’s meet today’s Explorer.

Meet Todd

Tell us a little bit about you and your journey.

I spent 25 years in the Ivory Towers at R1 Research Universities running my own basic science lab focused on understanding the psychology and neuroscience of learning. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything.

They trained me and helped me hone my scientific skills. For the past two decades I’ve been fascinated by the psychological and neurobiological changes associated with normal and abnormal aging. When I left academics I knew that healthcare was the sector that I wanted to devote the rest of my career to.

Although I’ve been aware of virtual reality for over a decade, it was around 7 years ago I had an "aha" moment when I realized that the virtual reality device has the potential to be a learning machine.

With the right content, VR can broadly engage multiple learning and memory systems in the brain in synchrony. VR can “spread the wealth” of learning while reducing the load on cognitive processing. Given the fact that so many things in healthcare involve learning (e.g., therapy, patient interactions, facts and figures, health literacy and numeracy, medical device training, the list goes on) the potential for VR is great.

Today my scientific leadership roles focus on using the scientific method to study when and how VR can be used for good in healthcare. My personal mission is to use digital technologies like virtual reality to better serve patients, their families, and healthcare providers.

Why now?

Tell us a bit more about the problem you’re solving.

In healthcare, there are more learning problems than people realize, and we have many different technologies, processes and procedures available for solving them.

Most people only think of patient education when they hear “learning”, but it’s so much more than that. Professional training, rehabilitation, medical device use, and even pain management are all forms of learning.1 What is missing is a scientifically-grounded framework for determining which technology, process and procedure to use to solve specific learning problems.

Too often decisions are made based on an individual or group "preferences" instead of being driven learning science— the marriage of the psychology and neuroscience of learning.

The answers lie in research that dates back more than 150 years and that I’ve spent the better part of my career working on, but are rarely understood and applied in our everyday lives.

What I have advocated for is a three-step framework:

Problem: identify the learning problem at hand.
Process: identify which learning centers in the brain need to be activated in order to solve that problem.
Platform: determine the technology, processes and procedures that effectively engage those learning centers in the brain.

The framework is fairly simple. It is not perfect but it does provide the necessary guidance to get beyond simple preference-based decisions.2

What trends and signals are top of mind in your space?

In just the past 7 years that I have been in the private sector focused on healthcare, I have see three major trends:

First, a growing recognition of the importance of understanding how the brain works and its involvement in everything that we do. Many problems in healthcare are best solved by understanding their neural underpinnings.

Second, a growing recognition that digital technology is for more than just social media and gaming. Terms like digital therapeutics and immersive therapeutics are now embedded in our lexicon. That was not the case even 5 years ago. This trend has been especially fueled by the gaps in healthcare made clear by the coronavirus.

Third, a growing belief that decentralized randomized controlled trials are here to stay. I've literally conducted thousands of studies in my career. Some have been small and some larger scale. The ability to collect quality data quickly and from a broad array of participants with decentralized trials is truly amazing. Decentralized trials have their problems and detractors, but they are another useful tool in the scientist's toolbox.

Any deep dives or research people should know about?

The forgetting curve: the science of how fast we forget. This summary article describes the 150-year old experiment that showed us how humans are wired to learn— and to forget. This concept is foundational and applies in our everyday lives.3
The (human) science of medical virtual learning environments. This seminal work by Professor Bob Stone uses three surgical simulation case studies to highlight the critical role of human factors in designing virtual learning environments in healthcare.4
Journal of Medical Extended Reality. This brand new journal aims to be an avenue for future seminal work that explores the role of XR in therapeutics, simulation, and medical education.

Hypothetical Forgetting Curve from Spaced Microlearning and Periodic Testing

Final Frontier

Deep [Space], Deeper Questions — 5 Questions in 50 words or less

Q1: Top Opportunity in your space right now?

A: Data, AI, personalization, and reimbursement for PDTs

Q2: Top Challenge in your space right now?

A: Lack of awareness of digital tech and false biases about who is “tech savvy”

Q3: Tech Trends you’re following?

A: Digital therapeutics, especially immersive therapeutics, and true democratization in healthcare

Q4: Top Media recommendations?

A: Too many. I’m big on non-fiction and educating myself on current events, history and social justice.

Q5: Leaders you’re following?

A: Liesl Oldstone, Amir Bozorgzadeh, Susan Persky, Amber Paulus, Jayne Morgan, Tarra Faulk, Bob Stone, and Tim Fitzpatrick.

Connect and Follow

Connect with Todd on LinkedIn
Explore 1000+ curated research papers
Follow Todd on Google Scholar
Listen to my conversation with Todd on T Minus 10

This Explorers series aims to elevate the stories of those building a better future in healthcare and technology. Meet the clinicians, scientists, technologists, and trailblazers driving positive change in healthcare, technology, and beyond. Let’s share their stories and amplify their signals to the right people.