VIRTU Research Group, Copenhagen Research Centre on Mental Health (CORE), Hellerup, Denmark
Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
BMJ Open. 2023 Aug 24;13(8):e071927. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-071927.
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) has an early onset, a high lifetime prevalence, and may be a risk factor for developing other mental disorders. Gaze behaviour is considered an aberrant feature of SAD. Eye-tracking, a novel technology device, enables recording eye movements in real time, making it a direct and objective measure of gaze behaviour. Virtual reality (VR) is a promising tool for assessment and diagnostic purposes. Developing an objective screening tool based on examination of gaze behaviour in SAD may potentially aid early detection. The objective of this current study is, therefore to examine gaze behaviour in SAD utilising VR.
A casecontrol study design is employed in which a clinical sample of 29 individuals with SAD will be compared with a matched healthy control group of 29 individuals. In the VR-based eye-tracking paradigm, participants will be presented to stimuli consisting of high-res 360° 3D stereoscopic videos of three social-evaluative tasks designed to elicit social anxiety. The study will investigate between-group gaze behaviour differences during stimuli presentation.
The study has been approved by the National Committee on Health Research Ethics for the Capital Region of Denmark (). The study has been preregistered on OSF registries: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/XCTAKAll participants will be provided with written and oral information. Informed consent is required for all the participants. Participation is voluntarily, and the participants can at any time terminate their participation without any consequences. Study results; positive, negative or inconclusive will be published in relevant scientific journals.
社交焦虑障碍（SAD）发病早、终身患病率高，可能是发展为其他精神障碍的风险因素。目光行为被认为是 SAD 的一种异常特征。眼动追踪是一种新兴的技术设备，能够实时记录眼球运动，是对目光行为进行直接客观测量的手段。虚拟现实（VR）是一种用于评估和诊断目的的很有前途的工具。基于 SAD 患者的目光行为检查开发客观的筛查工具，可能有助于早期发现。因此，本研究旨在利用 VR 检查 SAD 患者的目光行为。
采用病例对照研究设计，将 29 名 SAD 患者的临床样本与 29 名匹配的健康对照组进行比较。在基于 VR 的眼动追踪范式中，参与者将观看由高分辨率 360°3D 立体视频组成的刺激物，这些视频包含三个旨在引发社交焦虑的社会评价任务。该研究将调查刺激物呈现期间组间目光行为差异。
该研究已获得丹麦首都地区国家卫生研究伦理委员会的批准（）。该研究已在 OSF 注册处预先注册：https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/XCTAK。所有参与者都将获得书面和口头信息。所有参与者都需要同意书。参与者是自愿参加的，他们可以随时终止参与，而不会有任何后果。研究结果（阳性、阴性或不确定）将发表在相关科学期刊上。
