Investigating biases in the perception of human behaviour using immersive virtual reality
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Psychology
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Barraclough N
(2015)
A bias-free measure of crossmodal audiovisual action adaptation
in Journal of Vision
Barraclough N
(2014)
Other peoples' actions interact within our visual system
in Journal of Vision
Barraclough NE
(2012)
Dynamics of walking adaptation aftereffects induced in static images of walking actors.
in Vision research
Barraclough NE
(2017)
Visual adaptation enhances action sound discrimination.
in Attention, perception & psychophysics
Barraclough, N.E.
(2012)
Dynamics of walking adaptation aftereffects induced in static images of walking actors
in Perception
Keefe BD
(2013)
Adaptation improves face trustworthiness discrimination.
in Frontiers in psychology
Keefe BD
(2016)
Action adaptation during natural unfolding social scenes influences action recognition and inferences made about actor beliefs.
in Journal of vision
Keefe BD
(2014)
A database of whole-body action videos for the study of action, emotion, and untrustworthiness.
in Behavior research methods
Page, S.A.
(2012)
Crossmodal adaptation aftereffects following observation of human hand actions
in Perception
| Description | Objective 1: Does visual adaptation bias our judgment of actions and human behaviour in 'real life' situations? We compared visual adaptation to naturalistically presented 3D action scenes viewed within an immersive virtual reality environment against action adaptation measured using conventional small screen presentations. We found that perception of peoples's actions, and inferences we make about their internal mental states, are biased strongly by action adaptation when viewing naturalistic scenes as for 2D. Perception and interpretation of the behaviour of individuals is dependent, not only on what the individual is doing, but also on the adaptive effect that other individuals within the social environment have on our action coding mechanisms (Keefe et al. 2016). We have made freely available a database of 2783 2D and 3D action videos generated during the period of this project (Keefe et al. 2014). Objective 2: How long and how strong is the effect of adaptation on action and social perception? We found that both action recognition, and our ability to derive someone's expectation of their environment from their behaviour, are already biased by exposure to just one action, builds up rapidly over time and lasts for over 10s (Keefe et al. 2016). Biases in the perception of emotional body language builds up fast with action exposure, does not transfer from one action to another, and decays at a speed dependent upon the identity of the actors. Identity independent emotional action adaptation decays over 10s, identity dependent emotional action adaptation, however, appears much longer lasting and did not decay over any of the periods we tested (Wincenciak et al. 2016). Objective 3: Does visual adaptation bias judgments of the internal belief states of other individuals? Visual adaptation biases our judgments of both other peoples' expectations of their physical environment and judgments of other peoples' internal emotional states. These effects are mediated via visual adaptation to the kinematics of the actions being executed rather than adaptation of higher-order cognitive mechanisms. See also above points. Objective 4: Does visual adaptation bias our judgment of the trustworthiness of individuals? Visual adaptation of facial trustworthiness has 2 effects. Adaptation biases perception of facial trustworthiness so that faces look less like the adaptor in female observers only (Wincenciak et al. 2013). However, in both female and male observers, adaptation improves discrimination of facial trustworthiness around the adaptor (Keefe et al. 2013). Objective 5: Does the perception of trustworthiness rely on mechanisms that are sensitive or insensitive to body parts? We examined how perception of emotion (a proxy for trustworthiness; Oosterhof & Todorov, 2008) was reliant on mechanisms sensitive to body parts as pilot testing indicated perception of trustworthiness from actions showed a complex interaction with action type and dynamics. Both emotion and gender relies on body-part dependent coding mechanisms (Reading et al. in prep). Objective 6: Does visual adaptation bias judgments of human behaviour in security professionals? Two month duration initial Police training has little influence on judgments. Long term experience can improve perception of certain behaviours. Short term adaptation improves discrimination of human emotional behaviour (Barraclough et al. in prep). |
| Exploitation Route | This project was to investigate biases in the performance of action perception mechanisms resulting from visual adaptation. This was principally an academic goal and therefore the majority of exploitation is via academic routes. Our aim is to publish the primary research in high impact international peer reviewed journals and publicize our research at national and international conferences. We have published several primary research articles to date and a further 2 are planned. We have delayed publication and are combining multiple studies within single papers to ensure the highest overall academic impact. The research from this project has been presented at conferences to date many times, including national (Experimental Psychology Society, Applied Vision Association) and international (Vision Sciences Society, European Society for Cognitive Psychology, European Conference on Visual Perception) events. We will continue to publicize research from this grant when published at further conferences, and via press releases and interaction with national and international media as appropriate. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | The research on the grant was primarily theoretical in nature; its aims were to understand the effect of visual adaptation in naturalistic environments, and the underlying brain processes. As part of this grant, however, we wished to explore how we might bridge our improvements in scientific understanding with the potential for impact beyond academia. The route by which this was initially proposed was though a continuing dialogue with the Humberside Police Force during the period of the grant in order to optimise scientific experiments whereby the results might best inform Police practices and officer training within the Humberside Police Force. The changing landscape of UK Policing during the period of the grant was considerable, and included a shift in national Policing priorities from the Labour to the Coalition government, followed by an introduction of Police Commissioners. In addition, during this period, staff turnover within the Humberside Police Force resulted in our liaison officer (and Head of Performance and Training) being replaced 3 times; each new DCI brought with them their own distinct aims and priorities. Despite this uncertain political landscape we believe we achieved intellectual and scientific continuity and rigour whilst remaining flexible and responsive to the needs of the Police on a month by month basis. Initially proposed experiments were adapted early on to the new requirements of the Police to assess how officers and recruits were affected by experience and training on their ability to make judgments about the crimes of other individuals. The research was designed to help understand how best to optimise "stop and search" and "stop and account". Stop and search procedures have received considerable public attention. Over a million stop and searches are conducted per year, whilst only 10% result in any arrest. Stopping innocent individuals wastes Police and individual time, and results in erosion of trust in the Police. The task, however, is inherently difficult (stop only criminals, don't stop any innocent individuals), optimising detection of criminal behaviour and Police decision making is critical to improving stop and search performance locally and nationally. During the period of the grant the full scientific research team, (PI, CIs, RAs, PhD students) met with representatives from the Humberside Force and South Yorkshire Police Force up to DCI and Head of Performance level. The Police provide guidance on current Policing priorities and performance issues with their officers, and the scientific team provided regular updates on results and their implications for Police training and decision making. Overall, the impact of the research on Policing has consisted of continual dialogue with and guidance to both Humberside and South Yorkshire Police Forces performance units on the decisions that their officers and recruits make during stop and search. An additional, but originally unforeseen, impact of the research conducted during the period of the grant has been on the economic competitiveness of Reckitt Benckiser Plc. (a FTSE 100 company). During the period of the grant we used the 3D Virtual Reality technology developed for grant research to additionally quantify the beneficial effect of Reckitt Air Care products. We used the VR technology to generate controlled naturalistic domestic and social environments and assessed how different Air Care products improved social perception. We were able to determine in which domestic environments Reckitt's products were most effective. Research reports were provided to the Reckitt Benckiser Home Care Development unit to guide product development and optimise marketing. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Chemicals,Security and Diplomacy |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Development of Reckitt Benckiser air freshener |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Improving Humberside Police Force recruit training |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Reckitt Benckiser industry grant |
| Amount | £42,120 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Reckitt Benckiser |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2012 |
| End | 02/2013 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholarship |
| Amount | £1,440 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Department | Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholarship |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2012 |
| End | 09/2012 |
| Title | Action Database |
| Description | A database of whole-body action videos for the study of action, emotion, untrustworthiness, identity, and gender |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | None yet |
| URL | http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~neb506/databases.html |
| Description | Collaboration with Institute of Neuroscience, University of Newcastle |
| Organisation | Newcastle University |
| Department | Institute of Neuroscience |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research contribution: experimental design, data collection, analysis, disemination |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contribution: resources, equipment, experimental design, data collection, analysis, disemination |
| Impact | Kikuchi Y., Ip, J., Mossom, J.C., Barraclough, N.E., Petkov, C.I., Vuong, Q.C. (2014) Attentional modulation of repetition suppression effects in human face- and voice-sensitive cortex Program No. XXX. 2014 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2014. Online Kikuchi Y., Ip, J., Mossom, J.C., Barraclough, N.E., Petkov, C.I., Vuong, Q.C. (2014) Attentional modulation of repetition suppression effects in human face- and voice-sensitive cortex. Asia-Pacific Advanced Network Conference. Nantou, Taiwan |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Humberside Police Force |
| Organisation | Humberside Police |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have conducted research that determines how visual adaptation to faces and bodies biases subsequent perception. We have investigated how Police trainees are able to detect criminal behaviour before and after training and how experienced Police officers are able to detect criminal behaviours. This has informed the performance management team involved in the training of Police recruits about potential biases in perception and inappropriate decision making occurs when viewing the actions and behaviours of individuals. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Police force have met regularly with us over the period of the funded project to explain the critical decisions that Police officers make during decision making about potential crimes. They have guided the choice of experimental stimuli. |
| Impact | Informing Police training |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Reckitt Benckiser |
| Organisation | Reckitt Benckiser |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have developed 3D virtual reality video technology to generate immersive domestic environments to test the benefits of Reckitt's air care products. This has generated objective psychological data to guide Reckitt's product development and marketing strategies. The technology we have now developed allows the creation of photo-naturalistic immersive social scenes. This can be used by companies wishing to test ideas and develop products in naturalistic environments. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Reckitt Benckiser funded the research and allowed for the development of a large scale database of action videos |
| Impact | Keefe, B.D., Villing, M., Racey, C., Strong, S.M., Wincenciak, J., Barraclough, N.E. (2014) A database of whole-body action videos for the study of action, emotion and untrustworthiness trustworthiness discrimination. Behavior Research Methods doi:10.3758/s13428-013-0439-6 |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Public Lecture (Yorkshire) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 50 individuals attended a public talk which sparked questions and discussion afterwards Invitation to contribute to other public lectures in other geographical locations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |