Pilot study for assessing the behaviors of patients with schizophrenia towards a virtual avatar
Pilot study for assessing the behaviors of patients with schizophrenia towards a virtual avatar
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DOI：
10.1089/cpb.2006.9.531
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发表时间：
2006-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Kim, Sun I.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ku, Jeonghun;Jang, Hee Jeong;Kim, Sun I.
这项研究考察了虚拟化身能否被精神病患者，尤其是精神分裂症患者感知为真人，以及虚拟化身是否可以应用于获取患者在短时间对话中的行为特征。虚拟化身已经被用于各种应用，这些应用需要与其他人交流，或者通过展示人类的行为来训练或教育。近年来，许多研究表明，虚拟化身技术已经得到了增强，可以像真人一样感知化身。为这项研究设计了一个站在虚拟房间里的虚拟化身。11名精神分裂症患者被分配了接近、开始对话和回答阿凡达问题的任务。作为虚拟环境中的行为参数，获得了人际距离和言语反应时间。此外，采用阳性与阴性症状量表(PANSS)调查患者的症状特征与行为参数的关系。人际距离与PANSS的一个子量表--阴性症状量表呈负相关，这与之前关于人际距离与真人形象关系的研究一致。然而，言语反应时间与PANSS的任何其他分量表都不相关。通过对PANSS阴性症候群各子项的分析，发现两个子项之间存在正相关，一个是情感钝化，另一个是亲和力差。我们的结论是，虚拟化身可以被精神分裂症患者感知为真实的人，并且可以描绘精神分裂症患者的行为特征。
This study examined whether a virtual avatar could be perceived as a real human by patients with mental disease, especially schizophrenia, as well as whether a virtual avatar could be applied to acquiring patients' behavior characteristics in a short conversation situation. The virtual avatar has been used for various applications which need to communicate with other person or to train or educate by showing humanlike behavior. Recently, many researches have shown that the virtual avatar technology has been enhanced and the avatar could be perceived like real human. A virtual avatar, standing in a virtual room, was designed for this study. Tasks to approach, initiate a talk, and answer to avatar's questions was assigned to the 11 patients with schizophrenia. As behavioral parameters in the virtual environment, the interpersonal distance and the verbal response time were acquired. In addition, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for patients was administered in order to investigate the relationship between patients' symptomatic characteristics and behavior parameters. The interpersonal distance was negatively correlated with the negative syndrome scale, a subscale of PANSS, which is consistent with previous research reporting the relationship between interpersonal distance and a real person's image. The verbal response time, however, was not correlated with any other subscale of PANSS. After analyzing subitems of the negative syndrome of PANSS, two positive correlations were found: one was with blunted affect and the other was with poor rapport. We concluded that the virtual avatar could be perceived as a real human by schizophrenic patients and the avatar could draw the schizophrenic patients' behavior characteristics.