Signs of disorder bias perceived facial valence in real and virtual environments A Toet, S Tak |
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Dept of Information and Computing Sciences, TNO and University Utrecht, Netherlands
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| Virtual environments (VEs) are increasingly deployed to study the effects of environmental qualities and interventions on human behavior. Their ecological value depends critically on their ability to correctly address the user’s experience. Facial expressions convey important information about emotions and social intentions of other individuals, and thereby significantly determine human social behavior. In the real world negative visual contexts (like social disorder) bias perceived facial valence [Koji and Fernandes, Can. J. Exp. Psychol., 2010, 64(2), 107-116]. We investigated if simulated social disorder also affects perceived facial valence in a VE. We measured perceived facial valence for neutral faces on photographs of an urban environment and on screen shots of a VE model of the same environment, with and without signs of social disorder. 20 participants (10 females) rated the valence of 10 neutral male faces shown on 4 different background images (real and virtual, clean and littered). Both in real and virtual imagery signs of disorder negatively bias perceived facial valence (F(1,19)=5.9, p<.05, h2=.238). There is no significant difference between the results for real and virtual imagery (p=.172). This suggests that a VE may be an ecological valid tool to study the effects of social disorder on human social behavior. |
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