School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Sci Rep. 2018 Feb 14;8(1):2975. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-21036-2.
The ability to perspective-take (cognitive awareness of another's state) and empathise (emotional/affective response) are important characteristics for sensitive, co-operative and constructive parenting, which assists in developing adaptive functioning for children. For the first time, immersive virtual reality was used to place parents in the position of a child in order to assess impact on perspective-taking and empathy. This novel study was conducted with 20 non-high risk Spanish mothers (a pilot study with 12 mothers is reported in supplementary files). Mothers were virtually embodied as a 4-year-old child, experienced from the first-person perspective and with virtual and real body movements synchronised. They interacted with a 'mother avatar', which responded either in a Positive or Negative way. Participants reported a strong body ownership illusion for the child body that led to cognitive, emotional and physical reactions. Experiencing negative maternal behavior increased levels of empathy. In addition, the Negative mother led to increased feelings of fear of violence. Physiological data indicated greater stress in the Negative than Positive condition. Although further research is required to assess the effectiveness of such methods, any improvement in empathy that leads to a change in parenting behavior has the potential to impact on developmental outcomes for children.
换位思考（认知到他人的状态）和同理心（情感/情感反应）的能力是敏感、合作和建设性育儿的重要特征，有助于培养孩子的适应性功能。这是第一次使用沉浸式虚拟现实技术让父母站在孩子的角度，以评估对换位思考和同理心的影响。这项新颖的研究涉及 20 名非高风险的西班牙母亲（补充文件中报告了一项针对 12 名母亲的试点研究）。母亲被虚拟地体现为一个 4 岁的孩子，从第一人称视角体验，虚拟和真实身体运动同步。他们与一个“母亲化身”互动，以积极或消极的方式做出反应。参与者报告说，对孩子身体有强烈的身体所有权错觉，导致认知、情感和身体反应。体验到消极的母性行为会增加同理心水平。此外，消极的母亲会导致更多的对暴力的恐惧。生理数据显示，消极条件下的压力大于积极条件。尽管还需要进一步的研究来评估这种方法的有效性，但任何能提高同理心并导致育儿行为改变的方法都有可能对孩子的发展结果产生影响。
