Tarr, B;
Slater, M;
Cohen, E;
(2018)
Synchrony and social connection in immersive Virtual Reality.
Scientific Reports
, 8
, Article 3693. 10.1038/s41598-018-21765-4.
Preview |
Text
s41598-018-21765-4.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Synchronising movements in time with others can have significant positive effects on affiliative attitudes and behaviors. To explore the generalizability of synchrony effects, and to eliminate confounds of suggestion, competence and shared intention typical of standard laboratory and field experiments, we used an Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment. Participants, represented as virtual humans, took part in a joint movement activity with two other programmed virtual humans. The timings of the co-participant characters’ movements were covertly manipulated to achieve synchrony or non-synchrony with the focal participant. Participants in the synchrony condition reported significantly greater social closeness to their virtual co-participants than those in the non-synchrony condition. Results indicate that synchrony in joint action causes positive social effects and that these effects are robust in a VR setting. The research can potentially inform the development of VR interventions for social and psychological wellbeing.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Synchrony and social connection in immersive Virtual Reality |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-018-21765-4 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21765-4 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2018. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Multidisciplinary Sciences, Science & Technology - Other Topics, ELEVATED PAIN THRESHOLDS, BEHAVIORAL MIMICRY, AFFILIATION, PERCEPTION, CLOSENESS, PARANOIA, SCALE, LINK |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10045553 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
