Characteristics of social perception assessed in schizophrenia using virtual reality.
Impairment in social skills is one of the few criteria that all individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia must meet. Successful social skills require the coordination of many abilities, including social perception, which involves the decoding and interpretation of social cues from others. In this study, we examined the potential for virtual reality (VR) in social skill training. We attempted to determine if VR can be used to measure social skills and social perception, and to determine which VR parameters are related to schizophrenic symptoms. Some of these results have clear clinical relevance, while other observations need further study. The VR system appears to be useful in assessing the social perception of schizophrenics and normal people, and could be more widely used in the future for social training and in the assessment of social problem-solving abilities, assertiveness skills, and general social skills.
Kim
Kwanguk
K
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Sungdong, Seoul 133-605, Korea.
Kim
Jae-Jin
JJ
Kim
Jaehun
J
Park
Da-Eun
DE
Jang
Hee Jeong
HJ
Ku
Jeonghun
J
Kim
Chan-Hyung
CH
Kim
In Young
IY
Kim
Sun I
SI
D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D012951:Socialization; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted; D014584:User-Computer Interface