Browse Exhibits (1 total)

This study presented a comprehensive view of the role that psychological resources (such as fear and anxiety) play in distance perception.

Utilizing a novel, virtual approach, researchers asked participants to judge the distance of a series of virtual characters while being depicted as either wearing or not wearing a mask. Participants were also asked to make these judgments under conditions in which the virtual character being depicted was identified as either someone familiar (friend) or unfamiliar (stranger). Participants also completed a demographic questionnaire and a Likert-style measure assessing their level of fear during conditions present in the coronavirus pandemic.

Results of the study indicate mask-wearing does influence participant distance estimates. Participants underestimated the distance of virtual characters in both experimental conditions when the character was depicted as not wearing a mask. Familiarity did not influence distance perception in this study. Age and education level were also found to be correlated with participant fear ratings and participant mean distance error scores in experiment 1.

These findings extend previous research that supports the role of fear in changes in perception, such as making objects closer (Cole, Balcetis, & Dunning, 2013), bigger (Vasey et al., 2012), and appear to move faster (Witt & Sugovic, 2012) when participants are exposed to fear-inducing stimuli. Continued research in this may provide clinical importance as identifying factors that affect perception may allow for better planning and awareness in the instance of other pandemic or mass disease events. Additional research should also be conducted to extend these findings to other populations.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Daniele Nardi

Department of Psychological Sciences

Graduate