Attention and Social Cognition in Virtual Reality:The effect of engagement mode and character eye-gaze

Technical developments in virtual humans are manifest in modern character design. Specifically, eye gaze offers a significant aspect of such design. There is need to consider the contribution of participant control of engagement. In the current study, we manipulated participants’ engagement with an interactive virtual reality narrative called Coffee without Words. Participants sat over coffee opposite a character in a virtual café, where they waited for their bus to be repaired. We manipulated character eye-contact with the participant. For half the participants in each condition, the character made no eye-contact for the duration of the story. For the other half, the character responded to participant eye-gaze by making and holding eye contact in return. To explore how participant engagement interacted with this manipulation, half the participants in each condition were instructed to appraise their experience as an artefact (i.e., drawing attention to technical features), while the other half were introduced to the fictional character, the narrative, and the setting as though they were real. This study allowed us to explore the contributions of character features (interactivity through eye-gaze) and cognition (attention/engagement) to the participants’ perception of realism, feelings of presence, time duration, and the extent to which they engaged with the character and represented their mental states (Theory of Mind). Importantly it does so using a highly controlled yet ecologically valid virtual experience

Presence and rehabilitation: toward second-generation virtual reality applications in neuropsychology

Virtual Reality (VR) offers a blend of attractive attributes for rehabilitation. The most exploited is its ability to create a 3D simulation of reality that can be explored by patients under the supervision of a therapist. In fact, VR can be defined as an advanced communication interface based on interactive 3D visualization, able to collect and integrate different inputs and data sets in a single real-like experience. However, "treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best" (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi). For rehabilitators, this statement supports the growing interest in the influence of positive psychological state on objective health care outcomes. This paper introduces a bio-cultural theory of presence linking the state of optimal experience defined as "flow" to a virtual reality experience. This suggests the possibility of using VR for a new breed of rehabilitative applications focused on a strategy defined as transformation of flow. In this view, VR can be used to trigger a broad empowerment process within the flow experience induced by a high sense of presence. The link between its experiential and simulative capabilities may transform VR into the ultimate rehabilitative device. Nevertheless, further research is required to explore more in depth the link between cognitive processes, motor activities, presence and flow

Virtual and Augmented Reality: New Frontiers for Clinical Psychology

In the last decades, the applied approach for the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) on clinical and health psychology has grown exponentially. These technologies have been used to treat several mental disorders, for example, phobias, stress-related disorders, depression, eating disorders, and chronic pain. The importance of VR/AR for the mental health field comes from three main concepts: (1) VR/AR as an imaginal technology, people can feel “as if they are” in a reality that does not exist in external world; (2) VR/AR as an embodied technology, the experience to feel user’s body inside the virtual environment; and (3) VR/AR as connectivity technology, the “end of geography’. In this chapter, we explore the opportunities provided by VR/AR as technologies to improve people’s quality of life and to discuss new frontiers for their application in mental health and psychological well-being promotion

Virtual Representations for Cybertherapy: A Relaxation Experience for Dementia Patients

The development of serious games has enabled new challenges for the healthcare sector in psychological, cognitive and motor rehabilitation. Thanks to Virtual Reality, stimulating and interactive experiences can be reproduced in a safe and controlled environment. This chapter illustrates the experimentation conducted in the hospital setting for the non-pharmacological treatment of cognitive disorders associated with Dementia. The therapy aims to relax patients of the agitation cluster through a gaming approach through the immersion in multisensory and natural settings in which sound and visual stimuli are provided. The study is supported by a technological architecture, including the Virtual Wall system for stereoscopic wall projection and rigid body tracking

Actitudes de los estudiantes de psicología y de enfermería en el uso de las TICS en clínica

Treball Final de Grau en Psicologia. Codi: PS1048.Curs: 2016/2017El presente estudio tiene como objetivo explorar las actitudes de los estudiantes de psicología y de enfermería acerca de utilizar las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TICs) para aplicarlas en los tratamientos clínicos rutinarios, así como su posible utilidad para mejorar sus habilidades como profesionales. El estudio presenta datos sobre su actitud a usar las terapias asistidas por ordenador, y las compara con otro estudio realizado a profesionales. También hace una comparación entre los dos grupos de estudiantes a ver si existen diferencias significativas entre ambos.The present study aims to explore the attitudes of psychology and nursing students about the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) for tests in routine clinical treatments, as well as their possible usefulness to improve their Skills as Professionals. The study presents data on their attitude to using computer-aided therapies, and compares them with other professional studies. It also makes a comparison between the two groups of students that there are significant differences between the two

Back to the future of quantitative psychology and measurement: Psychometrics in the twenty-first century

Measurements in psychology always have been a significant challenge. Research in quantitative psychology has developed several methods and techniques to improve our understanding of humans. Over the last few decades, the rapid advancement of technology had led to more extensive study of human cognition, including both the emotional and behavioral aspects. Psychometric methods have integrated very advanced mathematical and statistical techniques into the analyses, and in our Frontiers Specialty (Quantitative Psychology and Measurement), we have stressed the methodological dimension of the best practice in psychology. The long tradition of using self-reported questionnaires is still of high interest, but it is not enough in the twenty-first century. We stress the use of innovative methods and technologies as psychometric tools. One of the most significant challenges in quantitative psychology and measurement concerns the integration of technologies and computational techniques into current standards. In the following, our aim is to show how data collection can involve human behavior, internal states and the manipulation of experimental settings. In particular, we define typical psychophysiological measures for a deeper understanding of internal states-analyzing the central and peripheral nervous system, hormonal factors in the endocrine system and the fascinating field of gene transcription in human neuroscience. These factors represent the measurement of the "internal" sphere that is becoming so interesting for measurement in all the field of psychology, including social and affective science, not only in the cognitive sciences. The idea to read internal states has always been very clear in clinical and experimental psychology, but now is becoming even more widespread. This is thanks to the improvements in technologies and lower costs. Next, we highlight the measurement of the exhibited behavior patterns representing the "external" sphere of human thinking through expressed behavior. Again, technology is a critical aspect shedding new light on the field. The use of low-cost and high-end technologies for understanding verbal and nonverbal patterns is helping to identify innovative ways to measure the psychological factors leading to a behavior. They can be considered a new challenge of behavioral science, e.g., the use of commercial devices (such as the Kinect) in motor and cognitive neurorehabilitation. Linked to psychophysiology and exhibited behavior patterns, virtual reality is becoming a cutting-edge tool for experimental manipulation, building personalized experimental settings, but found in a laboratory. We define and highlight the use of virtual reality in psychology as an incredible low-cost tool collecting data and creating realistic situations that can be used for clinical, experimental, social settings among others, and so of keen interest in several psychology fields. In conclusion, we present new methods and techniques already used in other fields, but incredibly expanding also in psychology and psychometrics. Computational science, complex networks, and simulations, are highlighted as the promising new methods for the best convergence of psychological science and technologies. These have ability to create innovative tools for better comprehension and a quantitative measurement in psychology

Cyberbullying and traditional bullying in relation with adolescents’ perception of parenting

This study investigates the relation between parenting and involvement in cyberbullying. We predicted that cyberbullies and cyberbully-victims report less responsiveness and de manding reactions from their parents than victims and youthswho are not involved in cyberbullying. Furthermore, we predicted that youths with neglectful parents cyberbully the most often and youth with authoritative parents cyberbully the least. The same differences were predicted for traditional bullying. behavio and for youth involved in both forms of bullying behavior. Participants were made up to 1200 youths from 10-14 years old. They responded to a survey measuring cyberbullying and traditional bullying with questions based on the sub-scales from the Bully?Victim Questionnaire, and parenting with an adjusated version of the Parenting Style Questionnaire. Most results confirm out predictions. Results on authoritative, autoritarian, permissive and neglectful parenting styles suggest that for bullies, demanding actions are an important dimension of thier behavior and for victims, responsiveness is an important dimension of their behavior