Effects of Augmented Self-Reflections on Health Perceptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Between-Subjects Web-Based Experiment (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Augmented Reality (A.R.) technologies with the potential for augmenting mirror and video self-reflections are growing in popularity. It is important to study how the use of these tools may impact human perception and emotion as it relates to health behavior. OBJECTIVE We aimed to examine the impact of mirror self-focus attention and vicarious reinforcement on psychological predictors of behavior change during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, our study included measures of fear and message minimization to assess potential adverse reactions to the design interventions. METHODS A web-based between-subjects experiment (n = 335) was conducted to compare the health perceptions of participants in different design conditions. Those who experienced mirror self-focus, vicarious reinforcement, or a combination of the two were compared to a control condition. RESULTS We found that participants who engaged in mirror self-focus, when combined with vicarious reinforcement displayed directly on the user, resulted in elevated scores of perceived threat severity (P = 0.03) and susceptibility (P = 0.01) when compared to the control. A significant indirect effect of direct mirror reinforcement on intention was found with perceived threat severity as a mediator (b = .06, 95% CI= [.02, .12], SE = .02). Direct mirror reinforcement did not result in higher levels of fear (P = 0.32) or message minimization (P = 0.42) when compared to the control. CONCLUSIONS Augmenting reflections with vicarious reinforcement may be an effective strategy for health communication designers. While our study’s results did not show adverse effects in regards to fear and message minimization, utilization of augmenting reflections should be done with care due to possible adverse effects of heightened levels of fear as a health communication strategy.

Autonomic arousal tracks outcome salience not valence in monkeys making social decisions

The evolutionary and neural underpinnings of human prosociality are still largely unknown. A growing body of evidence suggests that some species find the sight of another individual receiving a reward reinforcing, often called vicarious reinforcement. One hypothesis is that vicarious reward is reinforcing because it is arousing like a primary reward. We evaluated this hypothesis by measuring the autonomic pupil response of eight monkeys across two laboratories in two different versions of a vicarious reinforcement paradigm. Monkeys were cued as to whether an upcoming reward would be delivered to them, another monkey, or nobody and could accept or decline the offer. As expected, all monkeys in both laboratories showed a marked preference for juice to the self, together with a reliable prosocial preference for juice to a social partner compared to juice to nobody. However, contrary to the autonomic arousal hypothesis, we found that pupils were widest in anticipation of juice to the self, moderately-sized in anticipation of juice to nobody, and narrowest in anticipation of juice to a social partner. This effect was seen across both laboratories and regardless of specific task parameters. The seemingly paradoxical pupil effect can be explained by a model in which pupil size tracks outcome salience, prosocial tendencies track outcome valence, and the relation between salience and valence is U-shaped.

Neuronal Mechanisms of Strategic Cooperation

SummaryHere we demonstrate that during strategic gameplay monkeys behave as if they reason recursively about other individuals’ beliefs and desires in order to predict their choices and to guide their own actions, especially the decision to cooperate. Neurons in mid superior temporal sulcus (mSTS), the putative homolog of the human temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), signal abstract non-perceptual social information, including payoffs, intentions, and outcomes, and further distinguish between social and nonsocial agents while monkeys play the game. We demonstrate for the first time that a subpopulation of these neurons selectively signals cooperatively obtained rewards. Neurons in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACCg), an area implicated in vicarious reinforcement and empathy, do not distinguish agency and as a population carry less information about strategic variables. These findings suggest the capacity to mentalize has deep roots in the strategic social behavior of primates, and endorse mSTS as the evolutionary wellspring of these functions.

Healthy Avatars, Healthy People

Recent literature shows that new technologies can be used to promote patient engagement. The present contribution focuses on Virtual Worlds (VWs), namely virtual environments that multiple users can experience together thanks to the use of avatars. Indeed, VWs offer interesting opportunities for patient engagement interventions on two levels. On the individual level, customized avatars are known to have relationships with users' inner experience and Self-conception, so that they may constitute a peculiar additional tool for psychological assessment. Moreover, they are able to promote healthy behaviors thanks to a strong vicarious reinforcement (Proteus effect). On the collective level, VWs constitute an ideal platform to support the emergence of collective flow states (Networked Flow) which are related to the patients' creative activity and well-being. The present contribution deepens these phenomena, presenting VWs as an innovative and interesting tool for the patient engagement interventions of the future.

Healthy Avatars, Healthy People

Recent literature shows that new technologies can be used to promote patient engagement. The present contribution focuses on Virtual Worlds (VWs), namely virtual environments that multiple users can experience together thanks to the use of avatars. Indeed, VWs offer interesting opportunities for patient engagement interventions on two levels. On the individual level, customized avatars are known to have relationships with users' inner experience and Self-conception, so that they may constitute a peculiar additional tool for psychological assessment. Moreover, they are able to promote healthy behaviors thanks to a strong vicarious reinforcement (Proteus effect). On the collective level, VWs constitute an ideal platform to support the emergence of collective flow states (Networked Flow) which are related to the patients' creative activity and well-being. The present contribution deepens these phenomena, presenting VWs as an innovative and interesting tool for the patient engagement interventions of the future.

Healthy Avatars, Healthy People

Recent literature shows that new technologies can be used to promote patient engagement. The present contribution focuses on Virtual Worlds (VWs), namely virtual environments that multiple users can experience together thanks to the use of avatars. Indeed, VWs offer interesting opportunities for patient engagement interventions on two levels. On the individual level, customized avatars are known to have relationships with users' inner experience and Self-conception, so that they may constitute a peculiar additional tool for psychological assessment. Moreover, they are able to promote healthy behaviors thanks to a strong vicarious reinforcement (Proteus effect). On the collective level, VWs constitute an ideal platform to support the emergence of collective flow states (Networked Flow) which are related to the patients' creative activity and well-being. The present contribution deepens these phenomena, presenting VWs as an innovative and interesting tool for the patient engagement interventions of the future.