scholarly journals Virtual Mirror and Beyond: The Psychological Basis for Avatar Embodiment via a Mirror

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 1004-1012
Author(s):  
Yasuyuki Inoue ◽  
◽  
Michiteru Kitazaki
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Mirror Reflection ◽  
Embodied Perception ◽  
Virtual Body ◽  
Psychological Studies

In virtual reality (VR), a virtual mirror is often used to display the VR avatar to the user for enhancing the embodiment. The reflected image of the synchronization of the virtual body with the user’s movement is expected to be recognized as the user’s own reflection. In addition to the visuo-motor synchrony, there are some mirror reflection factors that are probably involved in avatar embodiment. This paper reviews literature on the psychological studies that involve mirror-specific self-identification and embodied perception to clarify how the reflected image of the virtual body is embodied. Furthermore, subjective misconceptions about mirror reflections reported in naïve optics have also been reviewed to discuss the potential of virtual mirror displays to modulate avatar embodiment.

scholarly journals Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Virtual Reality in Mental Healthcare: Effects of Full Body Illusions on Body Image Disturbance

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collin Turbyne ◽  
Abe Goedhart ◽  
Pelle de Koning ◽  
Frederike Schirmbeck ◽  
Damiaan Denys
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clinical Utility ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Full Body ◽  
Virtual Body ◽  
Clinical Populations

Background: Body image (BI) disturbances have been identified in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Virtual reality (VR) has recently been used as a tool for modulating BI disturbances through the use of eliciting a full body illusion (FBI). This meta-analysis is the first to collate evidence on the effectiveness of an FBI to reduce BI disturbances in both clinical and non-clinical populations.Methods: We performed a literature search in MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, PsychINFO, and Web of Science with the keywords and synonyms for “virtual reality” and “body image” to identify published studies until September 2020. We included studies that (1) created an FBI with a modified body shape or size and (2) reported BI disturbance outcomes both before and directly after the FBI. FBI was defined as a head-mounted display (HMD)-based simulation of embodying a virtual body from an egocentric perspective in an immersive 3D computer-generated environment.Results: Of the 398 identified unique studies, 13 were included after reading full-texts. Four of these studies were eligible for a meta-analysis on BI distortion inducing a small virtual body FBI in healthy females. Significant post-intervention results were found for estimations of shoulder width, hip width, and abdomen width, with the largest reductions in size being the estimation of shoulder circumference (SMD = −1.3; 95% CI: −2.2 to −0.4; p = 0.004) and hip circumference (SMD = −1.0; 95% CI: −1.6 to −0.4; p = 0.004). Mixed results were found in non-aggregated studies from large virtual body FBIs in terms of both estimated body size and BI dissatisfaction and in small virtual body FBI in terms of BI dissatisfaction.Conclusions: The findings presented in this paper suggest that the participants' BIs were able to conform to both an increased as well as a reduced virtual body size. However, because of the paucity of research in this field, the extent of the clinical utility of FBIs still remains unclear. In light of these limitations, we provide implications for future research about the clinical utility of FBIs for modulating BI-related outcomes.

scholarly journals The “embreathment” illusion highlights the role of breathing in corporeal awareness

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 420-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Monti ◽  
Giuseppina Porciello ◽  
Gaetano Tieri ◽  
Salvatore M. Aglioti
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Body Location ◽  
Specific Position ◽  
Embodied Agent ◽  
Corporeal Awareness ◽  
Virtual Body

Recent theories posit that physiological signals contribute to corporeal awareness, the basic feeling that one has a body (body ownership) that acts according to one’s will (body agency) and occupies a specific position (body location). Combining physiological recordings with immersive virtual reality, we found that an ecological mapping of real respiratory patterns onto a virtual body illusorily changes corporeal awareness. This new way of inducing a respiratory bodily illusion, called “embreathment,” revealed that breathing is almost as important as visual appearance for inducing body ownership and more important than any other cue for body agency. These effects were moderated by individual levels of interoception, as assessed through a standard heartbeat-counting task and a new “pneumoception” task. By showing that respiratory, visual, and spatial signals exert a specific and weighted influence on the fundamental feeling that one is an embodied agent, we pave the way for a comprehensive hierarchical model of corporeal awareness. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our body is the only object we sense from the inside; however, it is unclear how much inner physiology contributes to the global sensation of having a body and controlling it. We combine respiration recordings with immersive virtual reality and find that making a virtual body breathe like the real body gives an illusory sense of ownership and agency over the avatar, elucidating the role of a key physiological process like breathing in corporeal awareness.

scholarly journals Comparing VR- and AR-Based Try-On Systems Using Personalized Avatars

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1814
Author(s):  
Yuzhao Liu ◽  
Yuhan Liu ◽  
Shihui Xu ◽  
Kelvin Cheng ◽  
Soh Masuko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
User Study ◽  
User Studies ◽  
Apparel Shopping ◽  
Shopping Experience ◽  
Online Experience ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Virtual Body

Despite the convenience offered by e-commerce, online apparel shopping presents various product-related risks, as consumers can neither physically see nor try products on themselves. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies have been used to improve the shopping online experience. Therefore, we propose an AR- and VR-based try-on system that provides users a novel shopping experience where they can view garments fitted onto their personalized virtual body. Recorded personalized motions are used to allow users to dynamically interact with their dressed virtual body in AR. We conducted two user studies to compare the different roles of VR- and AR-based try-ons and validate the impact of personalized motions on the virtual try-on experience. In the first user study, the mobile application with the AR- and VR-based try-on is compared to a traditional e-commerce interface. In the second user study, personalized avatars with pre-defined motion and personalized motion is compared to a personalized no-motion avatar with AR-based try-on. The result shows that AR- and VR-based try-ons can positively influence the shopping experience, compared with the traditional e-commerce interface. Overall, AR-based try-on provides a better and more realistic garment visualization than VR-based try-on. In addition, we found that personalized motions do not directly affect the user’s shopping experience.

scholarly journals Embodying self-compassion within virtual reality and its effects on patients with depression

BJPsych Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline J. Falconer ◽  
Aitor Rovira ◽  
John A. King ◽  
Paul Gilbert ◽  
Angus Antley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Depression Severity ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
Clinical Potential ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Virtual Body

BackgroundSelf-criticism is a ubiquitous feature of psychopathology and can be combatted by increasing levels of self-compassion. However, some patients are resistant to self-compassion.AimsTo investigate whether the effects of self-identification with virtual bodies within immersive virtual reality could be exploited to increase self-compassion in patients with depression.MethodWe developed an 8-minute scenario in which 15 patients practised delivering compassion in one virtual body and then experienced receiving it from themselves in another virtual body.ResultsIn an open trial, three repetitions of this scenario led to significant reductions in depression severity and self-criticism, as well as to a significant increase in self-compassion, from baseline to 4-week follow-up. Four patients showed clinically significant improvement.ConclusionsThe results indicate that interventions using immersive virtual reality may have considerable clinical potential and that further development of these methods preparatory to a controlled trial is now warranted.

scholarly journals Virtual body ownership and its consequences for implicit racial bias are dependent on social context

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 201848
Author(s):  
Domna Banakou ◽  
Alejandro Beacco ◽  
Solène Neyret ◽  
Marta Blasco-Oliver ◽  
Sofia Seinfeld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Black People ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Short Exposure ◽  
White Female ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Virtual Body

When people hold implicit biases against a group they typically engage in discriminatory behaviour against group members. In the context of the implicit racial bias of ‘White' against ‘Black' people, it has been shown several times that implicit bias is reduced after a short exposure of embodiment in a dark-skinned body in virtual reality. Embodiment usually leads to the illusion of ownership over the virtual body, irrespective of its skin colour. Previous studies have been carried out in virtual scenarios that are affectively neutral or positive. Here, we show that when the scenario is affectively negative the illusion of body ownership of White participants over a White body is lessened, and implicit bias is higher for White participants in a Black virtual body. The study was carried out with 92 White female participants, in a between-groups design with two factors: BodyType (their virtual body was White or Black) and a surrounding Crowd was Negative, Neutral or Positive towards the participant. We argue that negative affect prevents the formation of new positive associations with Black and distress leads to disownership of the virtual body. Although virtual reality is often thought of as an ‘empathy machine' our results suggest caution, that this may not be universally the case.

scholarly journals Modelling of therapeutic action during mirror therapy

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
Nadine Morkisch ◽  
Katrin Jettkowski ◽  
Luara Ferreira dos Santos ◽  
Christian Dohle
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Automated System ◽  
Mirror Reflection ◽  
Therapeutic Action ◽  
Mirror Therapy ◽  
Unaffected Side ◽  
Shaping Process ◽  
Participatory Observation

Abstract:Background and purpose:In patients with pathology of one limb, mirror therapy (MT) uses the mirror reflection of the unaffected side to improve function of the affected limb [1]. There is some evidence that Virtual Reality (VR) can substitute the real mirror [2]. To create a standardised VR based mirror therapy as a self-training, several steps of conceptual considerations are essential. The purpose of this project was to understand the therapeutic action of standardised MT and thus to pave the way for a partially automated VR based MT to be executed as a self-training.Methods:A principle of motor learning, called Shaping, is anchored in two existing standardised MT protocols (BeST & BeSTEP) [3], [4] . To understand the shaping process within MT, shaping items and criteria were extracted from the protocols. Additionally, a questionnaire and participatory observation during MT sessions were performed and standardisation rules by means of documentation sheets of MT units were analysed.Results and conclusion:The knowledge about the shaping process during conventional MT, especially in the BeST phase is currently not sufficient to derive machine learning and therefore to create an automated system at this time. Further conceptual investigations to gather this information are necessary and projected.

scholarly journals Validity of Virtual Reality Body Exposure to Elicit Fear of Gaining Weight, Body Anxiety and Body-Related Attentional Bias in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 3210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Porras-Garcia ◽  
Marta Ferrer-Garcia ◽  
Eduardo Serrano-Troncoso ◽  
Marta Carulla-Roig ◽  
Pau Soto-Usera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Visual Analog Scales ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Body Image Disturbances ◽  
Core Symptoms ◽  
Pearson Correlations ◽  
Virtual Body

Fear of gaining weight (FGW), body image disturbances, associated anxiety and body-related attentional bias are the core symptoms of anorexia nervosa (AN) and play critical roles in its development and maintenance. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the usefulness of virtual reality-based body exposure software for the assessment of important body-related cognitive and emotional responses in AN. Thirty female patients with AN, one of them subclinical, and 43 healthy college women, 25 with low body dissatisfaction (BD) and 18 with high BD, owned a virtual body that had their silhouette and body mass index. Full-body illusion (FBI) over the virtual body was induced using both visuo-motor and visuo-tactile stimulation. Once the FBI was induced, the FBI itself, FGW, body anxiety and body-related attentional bias toward weight-related and non-weight-related body areas were assessed. One-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for age, showed that AN patients reported higher FGW, body anxiety and body-related attentional bias than healthy controls. Unexpectedly, patients with AN reported significantly lower FBI levels than healthy participants. Finally, Pearson correlations showed significant relationships between visual analog scales and body-related attentional bias measures, compared to other eating disorder measures. These results provide evidence about the usefulness of virtual reality-based body exposure to elicit FGW and other body-related disturbances in AN patients. Thus, it may be a suitable intervention for reducing these emotional responses and for easing weight recovery.

The Golden Rule as a Paradigm for Fostering Prosocial Behavior With Virtual Reality

2021 ◽  
pp. 096372142110469
Author(s):  
Mel Slater ◽  
Domna Banakou
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Golden Rule ◽  
Helping Behavior ◽  
Ethical Principle ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Positive Form ◽  
Negative Form ◽  
Virtual Body

The Golden Rule of ethics in its negative form states that you should not do to others what you would not want others to do to you, and in its positive form states that you should do to others as you would want them to do to you. The Golden Rule is an ethical principle, but in virtual reality (VR), it can also be thought of as a paradigm for the promotion of prosocial behavior. This is because in VR, you can directly experience harm that you inflicted or were complicit in inflicting from the embodied perspective of the victim. This use of what we refer to as the Golden Rule Embodiment Paradigm (GREP) relies on participants in VR having the illusion of body ownership over a virtual body. In this article, we introduce virtual embodiment and the consequent illusion of ownership over the virtual body, and describe how this phenomenon has been utilized to influence implicit attitudes. We then introduce the GREP and give examples of studies in which it enhanced helping behavior.

scholarly journals User Experience and usability of a new virtual reality set-up to treat eating disorders: a pilot study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Matamala-Gomez ◽  
Eleonora Brivio ◽  
Alice CHIRICO ◽  
Clelia Malighetti ◽  
Olivia Realdon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Affective State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Italian Women ◽  
State Increase ◽  
Virtual Body

Virtual Reality (VR) has progressively emerged as an effective tool for wellbeing and health in clinical populations. VR effectiveness has been tested before in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) with full-body illusion. It consists in the embodiment of patients with AN into a different virtual body to modify their long-term memory of the body as a crucial factor for the onset and maintenance of this disorder. We extended this protocol using the autobiographical recall emotion-induction technique, in which patients recall an emotional episode of their life related to their body. In this pilot study, we aimed to test the usability and User Experience (UX) of this VR-based protocol. Five Italian women with AN were embodied in a virtual body resembling their perceived body size from an ego- and an allocentric perspective while remembering episodes of their life related to their body. High levels of embodiment were reported while embodied in a virtual body resembling their real perceived body size for ownership (p<0.0001), agency (p=0.04), and self-location (p=0.023). Negative affective state increase after session 2 (p=0.012), and positive affective state increase after session 4 (p=0.006) (PANAS). However, further iteration of the VR system is needed to improve the user experience and usability of the system.

scholarly journals Using an Embodiment Technique in Psychological Experiments with Virtual Reality: A Scoping Review of the Embodiment Configurations and their Scientific Purpose

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-212
Author(s):  
Mattia Furlan ◽  
Anna Spagnolli
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Digital Library ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Psychological Experience ◽  
Tabular Format ◽  
Psychological Experiments ◽  
Scientific Purpose ◽  
Bodily Movements ◽  
Psychological Studies

Background: In recent years, psychological studies with virtual reality have increasingly involved some eEmbodiment tTechnique (ET) in which the users’ bodily movements are mapped on the movements of a digital body. However, this domain is very fragmented across disciplines and plagued by terminological ambiguity. Objective: This paper provides a scoping review of the psychological studies deploying some ET in VR. Methods: A total of 742 papers were retrieved from Scopus and the ACM Digital library using “embodiment” and “virtual reality” as keywords; after screening them, 79 were eventually retained. From each study, the following information was extracted: (a) the content of the virtual scenario, (b) the extent of the embodiment, and (c) the scientific purpose and measure of the psychological experience of embodiment. This information is summarized and discussed, as well as reported in tabular format for each study. Results: We first distinguished ET from other types of digital embodiment. Then we summarized the ET solutions in terms of the completeness of the digital body assigned to the user and of whether the digital body's appearance resembled the users' real one. Finally, we report the purpose and the means of measuring the users’sense of embodiment. Conclusion: This review maps the variety of embodiment configurations and the scientific purpose they serve. It offers a background against which other studies planning to use this technique can position their own solution and highlight some underrepresented lines of research that are worth exploring.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document