"Social Number Misjudgment Amplified by Hallucinations"

Hallucinations, particularly presence hallucinations experienced by individuals with Parkinson’s disease, can lead to an increased overestimation of social numbers, such as the number of people in a room. This phenomenon does not extend to inanimate objects like boxes, underscoring the social nature of this overcounting. Utilizing a novel “technodelics” approach combining virtual reality and robotics, the researchers have developed a platform that can objectively measure an individual’s susceptibility to hallucinations, potentially aiding early treatment for cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease patients.