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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Virtual Reality Studies

Background:

  • Social anxiety commonly presents with reduced eye contact and lower speech volume in face-to-face interactions.
  • Assessing these markers at scale is challenging in real-world settings.
  • Social virtual reality (VR) offers a platform for naturalistic, large-scale behavioral assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if behavioral and physiological markers of social anxiety in real-life interactions are replicated in dyadic social VR.
  • To explore the overlap of these patterns with broader constructs of psychopathology and verticality.

Main Methods:

  • 128 university students engaged in 30-minute avatar-mediated dyadic conversations in social VR.
  • Gaze, smiling, and speech were recorded using VR headset sensors.
  • High-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) was measured via electrocardiogram.

Main Results:

  • Social anxiety correlated with reduced eye gaze while speaking, quieter speech, and lower HF-HRV.
  • These patterns were similar for social anxiety and psychopathology.
  • Verticality showed an opposite association with social anxiety and psychopathology.

Conclusions:

  • Social VR interactions elicit behavioral and physiological responses similar to face-to-face social anxiety.
  • These findings suggest social anxiety and psychopathology may share a common social-behavioral spectrum.
  • Social VR provides a powerful tool for studying social stress and tailoring interventions.