Abstract
Interpersonal distance (IPD) is a simple social regulation metric which is altered in autism. We performed a stop-distance paradigm to evaluate IPD regulation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and control groups in a real versus a virtual environment mimicking in detail the real one. We found a bimodal pattern of IPDs only in ASD. Both groups showed high IPD correlations between real and virtual environments, but the significantly larger slope in the control group suggests rescaling, which was absent in ASD. We argue that loss of nuances like non-verbal communication, such as perception of subtle body gestures in the virtual environment, lead to changed regulation of IPD in controls, whilst ASD participants show similar deficits in perceiving such subtle cues in both environments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asada, K., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., Saito, A., Hasegawa, T., & Kumagaya, S. (2016). Reduced personal space in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. PLoS ONE, 11(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146306.
Back, E., Ropar, D., & Mitchell, P. (2007). Do the eyes have it? Inferring mental states from animated faces in autism. Child Development, 78(2), 397–411. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01005.x.
Bailenson, J. N., Blascovich, J., Beall, A. C., & Loomis, J. M. (2003). Interpersonal distance in immersive virtual environments. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(7), 819–833. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029007002.
Bellani, M., Fornasari, L., Chittaro, L., & Brambilla, P. (2011). Virtual reality in autism: State of the art. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 20(3), 235–238.
Blascovich, J. (2002). Social influence within immersive virtual environments (pp. 127–145). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0277-9_8
Blascovich, J., Loomis, J., Beall, A. C., Swinth, K. R., Hoyt, C. L., & Bailenson, J. N. (2002). Target article: Immersive virtual environment technology as a methodological tool for social psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 13(2), 103–124. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1302_01.
Bogovic, A., Mihanovic, M., Jokic-Begic, N., & Svagelj, A. (2014). Personal space of male war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Environment and Behavior, 46(8), 929–945. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916513477653.
Boraston, Z. L., Corden, B., Miles, L. K., Skuse, D. H., & Blakemore, S. J. (2008). Brief report: Perception of genuine and posed smiles by individuals with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(3), 574–580. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0421-1.
Boyd, L. A. E., Jiang, X., & Hayes, G. R. (2017). ProCom: Designing and evaluating a mobile and wearable system to support proximity awareness for people with autism. Conference on human factors in computing systems—Proceedings, 2017-May (pp. 2865–2877). https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3026014
Boyd, L. E., Gupta, S., Vikmani, S. B., Gutierrez, C. M., Yang, J., Linstead, E., & Hayes, G. R. (2018). VrSocial: Toward immersive therapeutic VR systems for children with autism. Conference on Human factors in computing systems—Proceedings, 2018-April (pp. 1–12). https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173778
Brame, R., Mazerolle, P., Piquero, A., & Paternoster, R. (1998). Using the correct statistical test for the equality of regression coefficients. Criminology, 36(4), 859–866. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1998.tb01268.x.
Burke, S. L., Bresnahan, T., Li, T., Epnere, K., Rizzo, A., Partin, M.,… Trimmer, M. (2018). Using virtual interactive training agents (ViTA) with adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(3), 905–912. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3374-z
Candini, M., Giuberti, V., Manattini, A., Grittani, S., di Pellegrino, G., & Frassinetti, F. (2017). Personal space regulation in childhood autism: Effects of social interaction and person’s perspective. Autism Research, 10(1), 144–154. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1637.
Chattopadhyay, D., & MacDorman, K. F. (2017). Familiar faces rendered strange: Why inconsistent realism drives characters into the uncanny valley. Journal of Vision, 16, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1167/16.11.7.
Crowell, C., & Pares, N. (2018). Variations between perceptions of interpersonal distance in virtual environments for autism. CHI PLAY 2018—Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts, (October), 415–421. https://doi.org/10.1145/3270316.3271537
Delevoye-Turrell, Y., Vienne, C., & Coello, Y. (2011). Space boundaries in schizophrenia voluntary action for improved judgments of social distances. Social Psychology, 42(3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000063.
Didehbani, N., Allen, T., Kandalaft, M., Krawczyk, D., & Chapman, S. (2016). Virtual reality social cognition training for children with high functioning autism. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 703–711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.033.
Escobedo, L., Nguyen, D. H., Boyd, L. A., Hirano, S. H., Rangel, A., García-Rosas, D.,… Hayes, G. R. (2012). MOSOCO: A mobile assistive tool to support children with autism practicing social skills in real-life situations. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems—Proceedings, 2589–2598. https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2208649
Froehlich, A. L., Anderson, J. S., Bigler, E. D., Miller, J. S., Lange, N. T., Dubray, M. B.,… Lainhart, J. E. (2012). Intact prototype formation but impaired generalization in autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6(2), 921–930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2011.12.006
Georgescu, A. L., Kuzmanovic, B., Roth, D., Bente, G., & Vogeley, K. (2014). The use of virtual characters to assess and train non-verbal communication in high-functioning autism. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00807.
Gessaroli, E., Santelli, E., di Pellegrino, G., & Frassinetti, F. (2013). Personal space regulation in childhood autism spectrum disorders. PLoS ONE, 8(9), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074959.
Goodwin, M. S. (2008). Enhancing and accelerating the pace of autism research and treatment. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 23(2), 125–128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357608316678.
Gutiérrez, M. A., Vexo, F., & Thalmann, D. (2008). Stepping into virtual reality. Stepping into Virtual Reality. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-117-6.
Iachini, T., Coello, Y., Frassinetti, F., & Ruggiero, G. (2014). Body space in social interactions: A comparison of reaching and comfort distance in immersive virtual reality. PLoS ONE, 9(11), 25–27. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111511.
Kandalaft, M. R., Didehbani, N., Krawczyk, D. C., Allen, T. T., & Chapman, S. B. (2013). Virtual reality social cognition training for young adults with high-functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(1), 34–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1544-6.
Kätsyri, J., Förger, K., Mäkäräinen, M., & Takala, T. (2015). A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: Support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00390.
Kätsyri, J., Mäkäräinen, M., & Takala, T. (2017). Testing the ‘uncanny valley’ hypothesis in semirealistic computer-animated film characters: An empirical evaluation of natural film stimuli. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 97, 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.09.010.
Kennedy, D. P., & Adolphs, R. (2014). Violations of personal space by individuals with autism spectrum disorder. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103369.
Kmiecik, C., Mausar, P., & Banziger, G. (1979). Attractiveness and interpersonal space. Journal of Social Psychology, 108(2), 277–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1979.9711646.
Koegel, L. K., Kuriakose, S., Singh, A. K., & Koegel, R. L. (2012). Improving generalization of peer socialization gains in inclusive school settings using initiations training. Behavior Modification, 36(3), 361–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145445512445609.
Lorenzo, G., Lledó, A., Pomares, J., & Roig, R. (2016). Design and application of an immersive virtual reality system to enhance emotional skills for children with autism spectrum disorders. Computers and Education, 98, 192–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.03.018.
Miller, H. L., & Bugnariu, N. L. (2016). Level of immersion in virtual environments impacts the ability to assess and teach social skills in autism spectrum disorder. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19(4), 246–256. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0682.
Milne, M., Luerssen, M. H., Lewis, T. W., Leibbrandt, R. E., & Powers, D. M. W. (2010). Development of a virtual agent based social tutor for children with autism spectrum disorders. In The 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) (pp. 1–9). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IJCNN.2010.5596584
Mundy, P., Sigman, M., Ungerer, J., & Sherman, T. (1986). Defining the social deficits of autism: The contribution of non-verbal communication measures of child psychology and psychiatry. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 27, 657–669. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1986.tb00190.x.
National Research Council. (2008). Nonverbal Communication. In J. J. Blascovich & C. R. Hartel (Eds.), Human behavior in military contexts (pp. 1–238). Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/12023
Parsons, S. (2016). Authenticity in virtual reality for assessment and intervention in autism: A conceptual review. Educational Research Review, 19, 138–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2016.08.001.
Parsons, S., & Cobb, S. (2011). State-of-the-art of virtual reality technologies for children on the autism spectrum. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 26(3), 355–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2011.593831.
Parsons, S., Mitchell, P., & Leonard, A. (2004). The use and understanding of virtual environments by adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(4), 449–466. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JADD.0000037421.98517.8d.
Perry, A., Levy-Gigi, E., Richter-Levin, G., & Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2015a). Interpersonal distance and social anxiety in autistic spectrum disorders: A behavioral and ERP study. Social Neuroscience, 10(4), 354–365. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2015.1010740.
Perry, A., Nichiporuk, N., & Knight, R. T. (2015b). Where does one stand: A biological account of preferred interpersonal distance. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(2), 317–326. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv115.
Perry, A., Rubinsten, O., Peled, L., & Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2013). Don’t stand so close to me: A behavioral and ERP study of preferred interpersonal distance. NeuroImage, 83, 761–769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.07.042.
Rutter, M., Bailey, A., & Lord, C. (2003). Social communication questionnaire. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Sanchez-Vives, M. V., & Slater, M. (2005). From presence to consciousness through virtual reality. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(4), 332–339. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1651.
Simões, M., Bernardes, M., Barros, F., & Castelo-Branco, M. (2018). Virtual travel training for autism spectrum disorder: Proof-of-concept interventional study. JMIR Serious Games, 6(1), e5. https://doi.org/10.2196/games.8428.
Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., Hilpert, P., Cantarero, K., Frackowiak, T., Ahmadi, K.,… Pierce, J. D. (2017). Preferred interpersonal distances: A global comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(4), 577–592. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117698039
Strickland, D. (1997). Virtual reality for the treatment of autism. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 44, 81–86.
Tzanavari, A., Charalambous-Darden, N., Herakleous, K., & Poullis, C. (2015). Effectiveness of an Immersive Virtual Environment (CAVE) for teaching pedestrian crossing to children with PDD-NOS. Proceedings��IEEE 15th international conference on advanced learning technologies: advanced technologies for supporting open access to formal and informal learning, ICALT 2015 (pp. 423–427). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICALT.2015.85
Vogeley, K., & Bente, G. (2010). “Artificial humans”: Psychology and neuroscience perspectives on embodiment and nonverbal communication. Neural Networks, 23(8–9), 1077–1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2010.06.003.
Vranic, A. (2003). Personal Space in Physically Abused Children. Environment and Behavior, 35(4), 550–565. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916503035004006.
Wechsler, D. (2003). Wechsler intelligence scale for children-third edition (WISC-III)—Portuguese version. Lisboa: Cegoc-Tea.
Wechsler, D. (2008). Wechsler intelligence scale for adults—Third edition (WAIS-III)—Portuguese version. Lisboa: Cegoc-Tea.
Funding
This work was funded by Project UID/4950/2020, Strategic Project and UID/NEU/04539/2013/ POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007440 and Fellowships SFRH/BD/77044/2011 (to MS) and SFRH/BD/102779/2014 (to SM) of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (Portugal); BIGDATIMAGE (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000016), COMPETE; and FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1-602186—BRAINTRAIN, of the European Commission/Seventh Framework Program, Fundacao Luso Americana para o Desenvolvimento Award Number: FLAD Life Sciences ED2, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: PAC-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016428 MEDPERSYST, PCIF/SSO/0082/2018, CONNECT.BCI POCI-01-0145-FEDER-30852.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Simões, M., Mouga, S., Pereira, A.C. et al. Virtual Reality Immersion Rescales Regulation of Interpersonal Distance in Controls but not in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 4317–4328 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04484-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04484-6