When you meet a person who belongs to a group different from your own, the behavior of the person changes depending on the appearance of the other person.
Among them, attack and assistance are considered to be very important behaviors in psychology,
Understanding has not progressed due to the large restrictions on the implementation of the experiment.
In order to overcome that difficulty, the wisdom of various fields scattered throughout Teikyo University is gathered.
We constructed a virtual reality space as an experimental environment for social psychology.
By precisely measuring the biological information during the experiment,
We are trying to predict biological reactions and social behaviors derived from them in a specific environment.
Wisdom from 3 fields gathered
Build a VR experiment environment for social psychology
For example, suppose you encounter a person of a different race than you in a strange land. At that time, how do people receive information from the outside world and make decisions? A research project is underway to capture the changes that occur in the human body at that moment, make decisions, and observe through experiments until they act.
It is not the real world to carry out experiments. It is a world of omnidirectional (4π direction) VR (Virtual Reality) created in a computer. Participants in the experiment wear goggles called a head-mounted display (HMD) and enter the world of VR, which is the experimental environment. If you move your eyes or head in the world, things that look like reality will change, and you can move or touch what is there.
This research project, entitled "Predicting Social Behavior from Biological Reactions in Dynamic Intergroup Situations of Virtual Reality," was conceived by Professor Tomoko Oe of the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Liberal Arts. Professor Junichi Kotoku of the Graduate School of Graduate School of Medical Care and Technology Associate Professor Mitsuhiro Ogawa of the Department of Information and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, started with three people from different campuses and faculties.
"Research using VR has been conducted in psychology for some time, but psychologists are primarily VR users and are not capable of complex programming or data analysis. Initially, we considered collaborating with researchers far away, but when we learned that Teikyo University has researchers with a high level of achievement in VR-related research, this project became a reality." (Professor Oe)
The avatars of the experiment participants can move freely
Create an omnidirectional VR space
In the VR world, which is an experimental field, experimental participants meet people with different attributes. Even if the participants are Japanese, the race, gender, age, etc. of the people they meet can be set freely. Experiment participants who entered the VR world are instructed to "attack" if the other party is doing dangerous acts, "rescue" if they are in trouble, and "watch" if there is no particular problem. .. The purpose of the experiment is to accurately measure the line of sight, biological reaction, and behavior selection of the experiment participants at that time.
"To study intergroup situations, it is necessary to prepare a specific experimental environment, gather many participants, and repeat the experiment under the same circumstances multiple times. However, reproducing behaviors such as aggression and rescue poses physical and ethical challenges, making experiments difficult. In contrast, VR makes it possible to freely create any environment, conduct experiments safely in a completely controlled environment, and measure various biological reactions in real time," says Professor Oe.
Professor Kotoku, who programmed the VR space and avatar movements, built the world's first VR visualization system based on technology for calculating radiation doses during interventional radiology procedures in real time, and has received numerous awards from academic societies both in Japan and abroad. He is a specialist in extracting information from medical 3D data using applied mathematics, and in this research he is also developing an eye-tracking system. "In this research, the development of the VR space is not the end; analyzing the data obtained here is also very important. I would like to analyze gaze data and various biological information to build new mathematical models," says Professor Kotoku.
Takada Takeshi, a doctoral student in the Department Division of Clinical Radiology Graduate School School Graduate School of Medical Care and Technology (Kotoku Laboratory), who was in charge of programming, recalls that he struggled with controlling the character's movements within the VR space. "The participants in the experiment would decide whether to attack or rescue the people they met in the VR space based on their casual gestures, so the characters' movements had to be natural. To achieve this, we used our experience developing VR for visualizing radiation doses to finely control the range of motion of the joints, the speed of movement, the VR environment, and other factors, and we had Professor Oe check it over and over again to refine it," says Takada.
Non-invasively measure body temperature and pulse waves
Analysis of the relationship between psychological stimuli and biological reactions
During the experiment, biological responses such as body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure will be continuously measured. In the future, the aim is to realize non-invasive measurements using measuring devices embedded in the VR goggles and controllers, so that participants can conduct experiments without being aware that they are being measured.
Associate Professor Ogawa, who specializes in biometrics, has developed and researched a futuristic health management system called "Everyday Games, Everyday Health," which monitors health status by measuring biometrics while playing digital games. He developed a system that measures pulse waves from the forehead using an optical sensor embedded in VR goggles and calculates pulse rate. This device is planned to be introduced into this project in the future.
"My goal is to analyze the relationship between psychological stimuli and the living body. By analyzing fluctuations in pulse rate, we can determine the activity of autonomic nervous function, and if we conduct experiments in a VR space, we can see biological reactions to minor psychological stimuli that occur on a daily basis. Regarding body temperature, I am measuring both the surface temperature of the skin and the core body temperature, and I am thinking that we may be able to detect signs of psychological stimuli from changes in these temperatures and the differences between them." (Associate Professor Ogawa)
Oe Professor also has high hopes for deep temperature, as it is an important psychological point. Dr. Ogawa's research is very valuable in considering the relationship between behavior, thoughts, and the body. Dr. Ogawa's research is very valuable in considering the relationship between behavior, thought, and the body." (Oe Professor)
Predict your thoughts and actions
Used as an educational support tool
The project, which began in 2019, took about a year to build a VR experimental environment and has just completed preliminary experiments. Full-scale experiments have just begun, but the first step will be to examine the relationship between temperature and aggressive/helpful behavior. Future industrial applications include an "educational support tool" that predicts one's own thought patterns and behavior in various environments.
"For example, someone who has never interacted with a foreigner could experience interacting with a foreigner in a VR space, allowing them to train in communication with a sense that is close to reality, and learn in advance how they will think when they meet such a person. Furthermore, VR spaces can easily test mental stress, which has been difficult to test until now, so this should be useful for improving the physical and mental health of workers, such as by creating optimal environments for each workplace," says Professor Oe.
There is a cognitive bias that inevitably arises when a person tries to interact with others or society. Many are unaware of that bias, but in this study we can use an indicator of biological response to make them aware of it. Such awareness may lead to better relationships with others. At first glance, it is an inorganic VR, but it has the potential to clarify the state of mind of people who are difficult to see and develop as knowledge of human understanding.
