Social anxiety changes the way we move-A social approach-avoidance task in a virtual reality CAVE system.

ABSTRACT: Investigating approach-avoidance behavior regarding affective stimuli is important in broadening the understanding of one of the most common psychiatric disorders, social anxiety disorder. Many studies in this field rely on approach-avoidance tasks, which mainly assess hand movements, or interpersonal distance measures, which return inconsistent results and lack ecological validity. Therefore, the present study introduces a virtual reality task, looking at avoidance parameters (movement time and speed, distance to social stimulus, gaze behavior) during whole-body movements. These complex movements represent the most ecologically valid form of approach and avoidance behavior. These are at the core of complex and natural social behavior. With this newly developed task, the present study exam

SUBMITTER: Lange B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6927627 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature