scholarly journals Prosocial Virtual Reality, Empathy, and EEG Measures: A Pilot Study Aimed at Monitoring Emotional Processes in Intergroup Helping Behaviors

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1196
Author(s):  
Francesca D’Errico ◽  
Giovanna Leone ◽  
Maurizio Schmid ◽  
Carmen D’Anna
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Invasive Procedure ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Status Signals ◽  
Electroencephalogram Eeg ◽  
Practical Implications

During a non-invasive procedure, participants both helped and helped by a confederate with features that create social distance (membership in an ethnic outgroup or another social group). For this purpose, we created a set of virtual scenarios in which the confederate’s ethnicity (white vs. black) and appearance (business man vs. beggar, with casual dress as a control condition) were crossed. The study aimed to explore how the emotional reactions of participants changed according to the confederate’s status signals as well as signals that they belong to the same or a different ethnic group. Participants’ alertness, calmness, and engagement were monitored using electroencephalogram (EEG) during the original virtual reality (VR) video sessions. Participants’ distress and empathy when exposed to helping interactions were self-assessed after the VR video sessions. The results pointed out that, irrespective of whether they helped the confederate or were helped by him/her, white participants showed higher levels of alertness when exposed to helping interactions involving a white beggar or a black businessman, and their emotional calmness and engagement were higher when interacting with a black beggar or a white businessman. The results for self-assessed distress and empathy followed the same tendency, indicating how physiological and self-assessed measures can both contribute to a better understanding of the emotional processes in virtual intergroup helping situations. Based on the presented results, the methodological and practical implications of VR in terms of enhancing self-reflective capacities in intergroup helping processes are discussed.

Non-Invasive Distinction of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease using Urinary Volatile Organic Compound Analysis: Early Results

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh P. Arasaradnam ◽  
Michael McFarlane ◽  
Emma Daulton ◽  
Erik Westenbrink ◽  
Nicola O’Connell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liver Disease ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Fatty Liver ◽  
Fatty Liver Disease ◽  
Diagnostic Methods ◽  
Screening Methods ◽  
Alcoholic Fatty Liver ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background & Aims: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is the commonest cause of chronic liver disease in the western world. Current diagnostic methods including Fibroscan have limitations, thus there is a need for more robust non-invasive screening methods. The gut microbiome is altered in several gastrointestinal and hepatic disorders resulting in altered, unique gut fermentation patterns, detectable by analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urine, breath and faeces. We performed a proof of principle pilot study to determine if progressive fatty liver disease produced an altered urinary VOC pattern; specifically NAFLD and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH).Methods: 34 patients were recruited: 8 NASH cirrhotics (NASH-C); 7 non-cirrhotic NASH; 4 NAFLD and 15 controls. Urine was collected and stored frozen. For assay, the samples were defrosted and aliquoted into vials, which were heated to 40±0.1°C and the headspace analyzed by FAIMS (Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectroscopy). A previously used data processing pipeline employing a Random Forrest classification algorithm and using a 10 fold cross validation method was applied.Results: Urinary VOC results demonstrated sensitivity of 0.58 (0.33 - 0.88), but specificity of 0.93 (0.68 - 1.00) and an Area Under Curve (AUC) 0.73 (0.55 -0.90) to distinguish between liver disease and controls. However, NASH/NASH-C was separated from the NAFLD/controls with a sensitivity of 0.73 (0.45 - 0.92), specificity of 0.79 (0.54 - 0.94) and AUC of 0.79 (0.64 - 0.95), respectively.Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that urinary VOCs detection may offer the potential for early non-invasive characterisation of liver disease using 'smell prints' to distinguish between NASH and NAFLD.

scholarly journals Virtual Reality and Political Outgroup Contact: Can Avatar Customization and Common Ingroup Identity Reduce Social Distance?

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630512199376
Author(s):  
Jorge Peña ◽  
Grace Wolff ◽  
Magdalena Wojcieszak
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Identity Salience ◽  
Physical Identity ◽  
Heterogeneous Effects ◽  
Issue Involvement ◽  
Boomerang Effects ◽  
Common Ingroup Identity ◽  
Ingroup Identity

This study ( N = 217) explores the potential for virtual reality to decrease social distance toward outgroup members among women. Raising the salience of individuals’ real physical identity through avatar customization and common ingroup identity manipulations was theorized to influence social distance. Participants who customized an avatar to resemble their real selves showed increased social distance. However, avatar customization also increased user identifiability, which was linked to reduced social distance. Priming a common ingroup identity increased identity salience but did not influence social distance. In examining heterogeneous effects by prior levels of issue involvement, participants with high and moderate involvement with immigration showed increased social distance after customizing an avatar to resemble their real selves, thus implying boomerang effects. The study discusses how avatar customization, identifiability, and common ingroup primes in virtual encounters may influence outgroup attitudes and intergroup relations.

scholarly journals Analysis of motor performance in individuals with cerebral palsy using a non-immersive virtual reality task – a pilot study

2019 ◽  
Vol Volume 15 ◽  
pp. 417-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiana Martins ◽  
Thaís Massetti ◽  
Tania Crocetta ◽  
Priscila Bianchi Lopes ◽  
Amanda da Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Motor Performance ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality

Promoting Psychological Health in Women with SCI: A Pilot Study of a Virtual-Reality Intervention Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (10) ◽  
pp. e78
Author(s):  
Susan Robinson-Whelen ◽  
Rosemary B. Hughes ◽  
Heather B. Taylor ◽  
Margaret A. Nosek
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Intervention Program

A Virtual Reality Version of the Trier Social Stress Test: A Pilot Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattias Wallergård ◽  
Peter Jönsson ◽  
Gerd Johansson ◽  
Björn Karlson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Virtual Humans ◽  
Arithmetic Task

One of the most common methods of inducing stress in the laboratory in order to examine the stress response in healthy and clinical populations is the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Briefly, the participant is asked to deliver a speech and to perform an arithmetic task in front of an evaluating committee. The committee, consisting of three trained actors, does not respond emotionally during the test, which makes the situation very stressful for the participant. One disadvantage of the TSST is that it can be difficult to hold the experimental conditions constant. In particular, it may be difficult for actors to hold their acting constant across all sessions. Furthermore, there are several practical problems and costs associated with hiring professional actors. A computerized version of the TSST using virtual humans could be a way to avoid these problems provided that it is able to induce a stress response similar to the one of the original TSST. The purpose of the present pilot study was therefore to investigate the stress response to a virtual reality (VR) version of the TSST visualized using an immersive VR system (VR-TSST). Seven healthy males with an average age of 24 years (range: 23–26 years) performed the VR-TSST. This included delivering a speech and performing an arithmetic task in front of an evaluating committee consisting of three virtual humans. The VR equipment was a CAVE equipped with stereoscopy and head tracking. ECG and respiration were recorded as well as the participant's behavior and comments. Afterward, a semi-structured interview was carried out. In general, the subjective and physiological data from the experiment indicated that the VR version of the TSST induced a stress response in the seven participants. In particular, the peak increase in heart rate was close to rates observed in studies using the traditional TSST with real actors. These results suggest that virtual humans visualized with an immersive VR system can be used to induce stress under laboratory conditions.

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