Dewe Hayley, Sill Oscar, Thurlbeck Simon, Kentridge Robert W, Cowie Dorothy
Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
Brain, Mind and Consciousness program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Neuropsychol. 2025 Mar;19 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):57-74. doi: 10.1111/jnp.12372. Epub 2024 May 9.
The present study explored the effects of visuomotor synchrony in virtual reality during the embodiment of a full human avatar in children (aged 5-6 years) and adults. Participants viewed their virtual bodies from a first-person perspective while they moved the body during self-generated and structured movement. Embodiment was measured via questions and psychophysiological responses (skin conductance) to a virtual body-threat and during both movement conditions. Both children and adults had increased feelings of ownership and agency over a virtual body during synchronous visuomotor feedback (compared to asynchronous visuomotor feedback). Children had greater ownership compared to adults during synchronous movement but did not differ from adults on agency. There were no differences in SCRs (frequency or magnitude) between children and adults, between conditions (i.e., baseline or movement conditions) or visuomotor feedback. Collectively, the study highlights the importance of visuomotor synchrony for children's ratings of embodiment for a virtual avatar from at least 5 years old, and suggests adults and children are comparable in terms of psychophysiological arousal when moving (or receiving a threat to) a virtual body. This has important implications for our understanding of the development of embodied cognition and highlights the considerable promise of exploring visuomotor VR experiences in children.
本研究探讨了虚拟现实中视觉运动同步性在儿童（5 - 6岁）和成人对完整人体化身的具身化过程中的作用。参与者在自我产生的和结构化的运动过程中移动身体时，从第一人称视角观察自己的虚拟身体。通过对虚拟身体威胁的问题和心理生理反应（皮肤电导）以及在两种运动条件下测量具身化。在同步视觉运动反馈期间（与异步视觉运动反馈相比），儿童和成人对虚拟身体的拥有感和能动感都有所增强。在同步运动期间，儿童比成人有更强的拥有感，但在能动性方面与成人没有差异。儿童和成人之间、不同条件（即基线或运动条件）之间或视觉运动反馈之间的皮肤电反应（频率或幅度）没有差异。总体而言，该研究强调了视觉运动同步性对于至少5岁儿童对虚拟化身具身化评分的重要性，并表明在移动（或受到对）虚拟身体的威胁时，成人和儿童在心理生理唤醒方面具有可比性。这对于我们理解具身认知的发展具有重要意义，并突出了探索儿童视觉运动虚拟现实体验的巨大前景。
