The Effects of Social Presence on Gaze, Movement, Arousal and Blink Rate in Autism: A Cooperative Virtual Reality Game-Based Approach

Abstract

Difficulty in social interaction is a key factor in the diagnostic criteria for autism. Although not fully understood, fluid human social interaction demands a complex exchange of verbal and nonverbal signals, which is disrupted in autistic individuals. Differences in gaze behavior, gross motor movement, and physiological responses related to arousal and attention have been observed repeatedly in autistic individuals, potentially impacting social interaction. Our prior work (Simmons et al., 2023) uses a fully immersive virtual reality video game custom-designed to examine the role of social presence through solo and cooperative versions of the game. We predicted that the inclusion of a virtual presence would impact the temporal execution of gaze behaviors and gross motor movements, as well as modulate physiological arousal and blink rate in autistic individuals differently than nonautistic controls. We found that the cooperative condition produced a larger number of differences in gaze behaviors and gross motor movements for autistic individuals. In addition, arousal and blink rate displayed differences during the cooperative condition. These findings demonstrate the specific effects of a virtual social presence on fundamental behaviors that comprise social interaction and can be measured and eventually manipulated in virtual reality.