A randomised controlled test in virtual reality of the effects on paranoid thoughts of virtual humans’ facial animation and expression

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in the study and treatment of paranoia. This is based on the finding that people who mistakenly perceive hostile intent from other people also perceive similar threat from virtual characters. However, there has been no study of the programming characteristic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2024-07, Vol.14 (1), p.17102-10, Article 17102
Main Authors: Wei, Shu, Freeman, Daniel, Harris, Victoria, Rovira, Aitor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/477
631/477/2811
Adult
Animation
Computer applications
Facial Expression
Female
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
multidisciplinary
Paranoia
Paranoid Disorders - psychology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Virtual Reality
Young Adult
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Summary:Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in the study and treatment of paranoia. This is based on the finding that people who mistakenly perceive hostile intent from other people also perceive similar threat from virtual characters. However, there has been no study of the programming characteristics of virtual characters that may influence their interpretation. We set out to investigate how the animation and expressions of virtual humans may affect paranoia. In a two-by-two factor, between-groups, randomized design, 122 individuals with elevated paranoia rated their perceptions of virtual humans, set in an eye-tracking enabled VR lift scenario, that varied in facial animation (static or animated) and expression (neutral or positive). Both facial animation (group difference = 102.328 [51.783, 152.872], p  
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-67534-4