How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal interpersonal distance (IPD) between humans and affective avatars in facial affect recognition in immersive virtual reality (IVR). The ideal IPD is the one in which the humans show the highest number of hits and the shortest reaction ti...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675515/full |
| _version_ | 1818433491623215104 |
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| author | Juan del Aguila Luz M. González-Gualda María Angeles Játiva Patricia Fernández-Sotos Patricia Fernández-Sotos Antonio Fernández-Caballero Antonio Fernández-Caballero Antonio Fernández-Caballero Arturo S. García Arturo S. García |
| author_facet | Juan del Aguila Luz M. González-Gualda María Angeles Játiva Patricia Fernández-Sotos Patricia Fernández-Sotos Antonio Fernández-Caballero Antonio Fernández-Caballero Antonio Fernández-Caballero Arturo S. García Arturo S. García |
| author_sort | Juan del Aguila |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal interpersonal distance (IPD) between humans and affective avatars in facial affect recognition in immersive virtual reality (IVR). The ideal IPD is the one in which the humans show the highest number of hits and the shortest reaction times in recognizing the emotions displayed by avatars. The results should help design future therapies to remedy facial affect recognition deficits.Methods: A group of 39 healthy volunteers participated in an experiment in which participants were shown 65 dynamic faces in IVR and had to identify six basic emotions plus neutral expression presented by the avatars. We decided to limit the experiment to five different distances: D1 (35 cm), D2 (55 cm), D3 (75 cm), D4 (95 cm), and D5 (115 cm), all belonging to the intimate and personal interpersonal spaces. Of the total of 65 faces, 13 faces were presented for each of the included distances. The views were shown at different angles: 50% in frontal view, 25% from the right profile, and 25% from the left profile. The order of appearance of the faces presented to each participant was randomized.Results: The overall success rate in facial emotion identification was 90.33%, being D3 the IPD with the best overall emotional recognition hits, although statistically significant differences could not be found between the IPDs. Consistent with results obtained in previous studies, identification rates for negative emotions were higher with increasing IPD, whereas the recognition task improved for positive emotions when IPD was closer. In addition, the study revealed irregular behavior in the facial detection of the emotion surprise.Conclusions: IVR allows us to reliably assess facial emotion recognition using dynamic avatars as all the IPDs tested showed to be effective. However, no statistically significant differences in facial emotion recognition were found among the different IPDs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:21:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-430e75b60aff4592b2ac571470866427 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:21:57Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-430e75b60aff4592b2ac5714708664272022-12-21T22:54:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-07-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.675515675515How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual RealityJuan del Aguila0Luz M. González-Gualda1María Angeles Játiva2Patricia Fernández-Sotos3Patricia Fernández-Sotos4Antonio Fernández-Caballero5Antonio Fernández-Caballero6Antonio Fernández-Caballero7Arturo S. García8Arturo S. García9Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete (CHUA), Servicio de Salud de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainComplejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete (CHUA), Servicio de Salud de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainInstituto de Investigación en Informática de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainComplejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete (CHUA), Servicio de Salud de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainCIBERSAM (Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Mental Health), Madrid, SpainInstituto de Investigación en Informática de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainCIBERSAM (Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Mental Health), Madrid, SpainDepartamento de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainInstituto de Investigación en Informática de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainDepartamento de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, SpainPurpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal interpersonal distance (IPD) between humans and affective avatars in facial affect recognition in immersive virtual reality (IVR). The ideal IPD is the one in which the humans show the highest number of hits and the shortest reaction times in recognizing the emotions displayed by avatars. The results should help design future therapies to remedy facial affect recognition deficits.Methods: A group of 39 healthy volunteers participated in an experiment in which participants were shown 65 dynamic faces in IVR and had to identify six basic emotions plus neutral expression presented by the avatars. We decided to limit the experiment to five different distances: D1 (35 cm), D2 (55 cm), D3 (75 cm), D4 (95 cm), and D5 (115 cm), all belonging to the intimate and personal interpersonal spaces. Of the total of 65 faces, 13 faces were presented for each of the included distances. The views were shown at different angles: 50% in frontal view, 25% from the right profile, and 25% from the left profile. The order of appearance of the faces presented to each participant was randomized.Results: The overall success rate in facial emotion identification was 90.33%, being D3 the IPD with the best overall emotional recognition hits, although statistically significant differences could not be found between the IPDs. Consistent with results obtained in previous studies, identification rates for negative emotions were higher with increasing IPD, whereas the recognition task improved for positive emotions when IPD was closer. In addition, the study revealed irregular behavior in the facial detection of the emotion surprise.Conclusions: IVR allows us to reliably assess facial emotion recognition using dynamic avatars as all the IPDs tested showed to be effective. However, no statistically significant differences in facial emotion recognition were found among the different IPDs.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675515/fullvirtual realityfacial affect recognitioninterpersonal distanceemotion identificationreaction time |
| spellingShingle | Juan del Aguila Luz M. González-Gualda María Angeles Játiva Patricia Fernández-Sotos Patricia Fernández-Sotos Antonio Fernández-Caballero Antonio Fernández-Caballero Antonio Fernández-Caballero Arturo S. García Arturo S. García How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality Frontiers in Psychology virtual reality facial affect recognition interpersonal distance emotion identification reaction time |
| title | How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality |
| title_full | How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality |
| title_fullStr | How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality |
| title_short | How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality |
| title_sort | how interpersonal distance between avatar and human influences facial affect recognition in immersive virtual reality |
| topic | virtual reality facial affect recognition interpersonal distance emotion identification reaction time |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675515/full |
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