Reality Judgment Research Articles

Reality Status Judgments of Real and Fantastical Events in Children's Prefrontal Cortex: An fNIRS Study.

The present study aimed to examine neural mechanisms underlying the ability to differentiate reality from fantasy. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we measured prefrontal activations in children and adults while they performed a reality judgment task. Participants’ task was to judge the reality status of events in fantastical and realistic videos. Behavioral data revealed that, although there was no accuracy difference, children showed significantly longer reaction times in making the judgments than did adults. The fNIRS data consistently revealed higher prefrontal activations in children than in adults when watching the videos and judging the reality of the events. These results suggest that when making judgments of event reality, children may require more cognitive resources and also mainly rely on their own personal experiences.

The impact of pictorial realism in educational science television on U.S. children’s learning and transfer of biological facts

ABSTRACTAlthough children’s science television shows aim to educate young audiences, a recent content analysis found that these shows are mostly animated and often depict science information anthropomorphically. An experiment examined the implications of these depictions for children’s learning and transfer of scientific information. Preschoolers viewed two videos about insect communication from a popular children’s television show that contained either realistic or anthropomorphic visuals of insects. Results indicated that initial learning from the show did not differ between conditions. However, one week later, children who viewed the show with realistic visuals were more likely to transfer what they learned to real insects, whereas children who viewed the show with anthropomorphic visuals were more likely to attribute humanlike characteristics to real insects. Contrary to predictions, these effects were not mediated by children’s attention to the show or their reality judgments of the factual content.

Still life? Children’s understanding of the reality status of museum taxidermy

Taxidermied animals provide an important source of information about the natural world, but failure to understand their reality status may result in missed learning opportunities for museum visitors. This study explored 4–10-year-old children’s and adults’ (N = 207) reality status judgments and biological and authenticity property attributions for a taxidermied rabbit during a museum visit. The aim was to examine their understanding of its former status as a living animal and its current status as an authentic piece of natural history, under different presentation conditions: (a) as a touchable exhibit; (b) inside an exhibition case—untouchable; and (c) in an experimental context paired with a toy rabbit—both touchable. Analysis revealed that there was an increase with age both in judgments that taxidermy was real and authentic and in accuracy of biological property attributions. The toy condition resulted in more accurate reality judgments, whereas the touchable condition resulted in more accurate biological property attributions. There was no effect of age or condition on authenticity property attributions. Accuracy of biological property attributions was also associated with reality status judgments, whereby understanding the real and authentic nature of taxidermy was associated with understanding its biological status. Implications for the development of biological cognition and museum learning are discussed.

CIÊNCIA, POLÍTICA E MÍDIA NA PERSPECTIVA CENTRADA NO ESCLARECIMENTO: A SOCIOLOGIA DE ALAN IRWIN EM DIÁLOGO COM A EDUCAÇÃO EM CIÊNCIAS

Este trabalho pretende discutir a abordagem de controvérsias sociocientíficas em sala de aula a partir da perspectiva centrada no esclarecimento. Para tal, a sociologia de Alan Irwin foi apresentada, e utilizando princípios da filosofia de Bakhtin, procurou-se elucidar os sentidos conferidos por professora e estudantes a controvérsias circulantes sobre o aquecimento global em sequência de dez encontros, especialmente no que diz respeito à relação entre ciência, política e mídia. Constatou-se perplexidade e desconforto com os fatores não-epistêmicos das controvérsias, a ciência sendo tratada como sinônimo de conhecimento verdadeiro, unívoco e objetivo, frequentemente em oposição à política e à mídia, tratadas como artifícios de mascaramento da realidade ou busca pelo poder. Houve um espectro de reações e níveis de consciência distintos por parte dos estudantes, seja sobre a complexidade das controvérsias sociocientíficas, seja sobre a percepção de si mesmos ou sobre o alcance epistêmico dos julgamentos da realidade. Avalia-se a coexistência do argumento democrático para o ensino de ciências para todos com tal perspectiva criticada por Irwin, bem como recomenda-se maiores esforços para o ensino-aprendizagem da natureza da ciência, das relações ciência-politica-mídia e do ceticismo como possível competência a ser educada.

A Survey of Presence and Related Concepts

The presence construct, most commonly defined as the sense of “being there,” has driven research and development of virtual environments (VEs) for decades. Despite that, there is not widespread agreement on how to define or operationalize this construct. The literature contains many different definitions of presence and many proposed measures for it. This article reviews many of the definitions, measures, and models of presence from the literature. We also review several related constructs, including social presence, copresence, immersion, agency, transportation, reality judgment, and embodiment. In addition, we present a meta-analysis of existing presence models and propose a model of presence informed by Slater’s Place Illusion and Plausibility Illusion constructs.

The Role of Social Context During Television Viewing on Children’s Moral Judgments About Social Exclusion and Stigmatization of Others

ABSTRACTResearch has considered how exposure to prosocial television narratives influences children’s social inclusion behaviors (e.g., Mares & Acosta, 2010). In these experiments, children typically view a stimulus episode alone; however, we know that children often watch with others at home (Chandler, 1997). Thus, in this study we examined how children’s proximal social context during viewing influenced effects. Using data collected from a 3-condition experiment (control, view-alone, coview with close friend) with Dutch children ages 5 and 6 (N = 80), we found that exposure largely did not influence children’s inclusion judgments or stigmatization beliefs. There was, however, an age × condition interaction, such that 6-year-old children in the coview condition demonstrated greater stigmatization beliefs toward other children, compared to 5-year-olds in the same condition, or all children in the other conditions. We discuss the implications of these findings while considering previous work on learning inclusion from prosocial television shows, reality judgments, and the bystander effect.

Exploring the Relationship Between Sports Fandom and the Black Criminal Stereotype

In news media, one stereotype that has continually been perpetuated is the overrepresentation of Blacks as criminals, leading to what many refer to as “the Black criminal stereotype.” Although research suggests that distorted portrayals of criminals in news affect social reality judgments regarding race and crime and provoke stereotypical responses in viewers, limited evidence exists that connects these effects to sport media. However, recent instances involving issues related to race and crime in sport have prompted us to consider the prevalence of a Black criminal stereotype among sport fans. With increased media attention given to off-field transgressions—particularly, violent ones perpetuated by high-profile Black athletes—we are left wondering how such attention may influence fans’ attitudes and beliefs. We explored these issues in an experimental study ( n = 234). Our findings not only revealed evidence of a Black criminal stereotype among sports fans but also that sports fans differ from nonfans in basic attitudes and beliefs about crime and violence in sport. More specifically, the more a participant claimed to be a fan of sports and (more so) combative sports, the more she or he viewed an athlete charged with domestic abuse in a favorable light.

Relaxation with Immersive Natural Scenes Presented Using Virtual Reality.

Virtual reality (VR) can provide exposure to nature for those living in isolated confined environments. We evaluated VR-presented natural settings for reducing stress and improving mood. There were 18 participants (9 men, 9 women), ages 32 ± 12 yr, who viewed three 15-min 360° scenes (an indoor control, rural Ireland, and remote beaches). Subjects were mentally stressed with arithmetic before scenes. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability measured psycho-physiological arousal. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the 15-question Modified Reality Judgment and Presence Questionnaire (MRJPQ) measured mood and scene quality. Reductions in EDA from baseline were greater at the end of the natural scenes compared to the control scene (-0.59, -0.52, and 0.32 μS, respectively). The natural scenes reduced negative affect from baseline ( 1.2 and 1.1 points), but the control scene did not ( 0.4 points). MRJPQ scores for the control scene were lower than both natural scenes (4.9, 6.7, and 6.5 points, respectively). Within the two natural scenes, the preferred scene reduced negative affect ( 2.4 points) more than the second choice scene ( 1.8 points) and scored higher on the MRJPQ (6.8 vs. 6.4 points). Natural scene VR provided relaxation both objectively and subjectively, and scene preference had a significant effect on mood and perception of scene quality. VR may enable relaxation for people living in isolated confined environments, particularly when matched to personal preferences.Anderson AP, Mayer MD, Fellows AM, Cowan DR, Hegel MT, Buckey JC. Relaxation with immersive natural scenes presented using virtual reality. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(6):520526.

Using a preamble to increase presence in digital virtual environments

Immersion in a digital virtual environment (DVE) increases the likelihood that individuals will feel present in the DVE and hence respond as they would in a similar physically grounded environment. Previous research utilizing high-fidelity technology has demonstrated that by starting a virtual experience in a virtual replica of the immediate physical environment, presence is increased. The purpose of this study was to determine whether utilizing such a transitional environment to increase presence could be replicated on a significantly less immersive system--a 2D desktop monitor with mouse and keyboard for navigation. Participants began their DVE experience either in a "preamble" DVE made to look like the surrounding physical laboratory space, or in a novel DVE (i.e., a house). Then, they were given verbal instructions to leave their respective environments and told to go up a set of stairs to explore a museum. Afterward, they reported levels of immersion and presence in the latter DVE. Results demonstrated that entering a target DVE via a familiar "preamble" environment increased perceptions of reality judgment of the virtual experience, perceptions of possibility to act, and levels of presence. These results suggest that incorporating a familiar digital preamble environment as a prelude to the target DVE enables DVE designers and enthusiasts to increase presence without having to invest in more expensive hardware, but it could also augment existing immersive technology. Their efficacy may be because they offer a gradual transition into the virtual world, such that the familiarity eases users into the novel experience.

Design and Implementation of Markerless Augmented Reality Application for Cockroach Phobia Therapy Using Adaptive Threshold

Augmented reality (AR) technology is useful for treating several psychological problems, including phobias such as fear of flying, agoraphobia, claustrophobia, and phobia to insects and small animals. However, the currently existing applications for therapy of cockroach phobia that uses AR technology are still very dependent towards the presence of markers, which might lessen the feeling of being in an actual scenario from everyday lives. In this paper, we created a system that is able to use everyday things as a replacement for markers for phobia therapy for cockroach. There are five main processes: getting the live streaming feed from camera, preprocessing, extracting the center point of the objects, tracking the marker-substitute objects, and lastly, instantiating cockroaches randomly after user lifts the objects according to the number and mode of the cockroaches, whether it is moving or not, that are predetermined by the user. The evaluation in this paper includes eight participants that are carefully selected based on their Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (FSQ) score that is translated into Indonesian and modified to accommodate cockroaches instead of spiders. The results is that the system can induce anxiety level on participants with the highest score of 10, which is the highest score in Standard Unit of Discomfort scale (SUDs). While the presence and reality judgment of this paper has the highest score of 7 which is also the highest score in Slater-Usoh-Steed Questionnaire (SUS).

Children’s imagination and belief: Prone to flights of fancy or grounded in reality?

Children ranging from 4 to 8years (n=39) reported whether they could imagine various improbable phenomena (e.g., a person making onion juice) as well as various impossible phenomena (e.g., a person turning an onion into a banana) and then described what they imagined. In their descriptions, children mentioned ordinary causes much more often than extraordinary causes. Descriptions of such ordinary causes were provided more often in relation to improbable (rather than impossible) phenomena. Following these imaginative efforts, children judged if each phenomenon could really happen. To check whether these reality judgments were affected by children’s attempts to imagine, a control group (n=39) made identical reality judgments but were not first prompted to imagine each phenomenon. Children across the age range judged that impossible phenomena cannot really happen but, with increasing age, judged that improbable phenomena can happen. This pattern emerged in both the imagination and control groups; thus simply prompting children to imagine did not alter their reality judgments. However, within the imagination group, judgments that phenomena can really happen were associated with children’s claims to have successfully imagined the phenomena and with certain characteristics of their descriptions: imagining ordinary causes and imagining phenomena obtain. Results highlight close links between imagination and reality judgments in childhood. Contrary to the notion that young children have a rich imagination that readily defies reality, results indicate that their imagination is grounded in reality, as are their beliefs.

Similarities and differences between eating disorders and obese patients in a virtual environment for normalizing eating patterns

Virtual reality has demonstrated promising results in the treatment of eating disorders (ED); however, few studies have examined its usefulness in treating obesity. The aim of this study was to compare ED and obese patients on their reality judgment of a virtual environment (VE) designed to normalize their eating pattern. A second objective was to study which variables predicted the reality of the experience of eating a virtual forbidden-fattening food. ED patients, obese patients, and a non-clinical group (N=62) experienced a non-immersive VE, and then completed reality judgment and presence measures. All participants rated the VE with similar scores for quality, interaction, engagement, and ecological validity; however, ED patients obtained the highest scores on emotional involvement, attention, reality judgment/presence, and negative effects. The obese group gave the lowest scores to reality judgment/presence, satisfaction and sense of physical space, and they held an intermediate position in the attribution of reality to virtually eating a “fattening” food. The palatability of a virtual food was predicted by attention capturing and belonging to the obese group, while the attribution of reality to the virtual eating was predicted by engagement and belonging to the ED group. This study offers preliminary results about the differential impact on ED and obese patients of the exposure to virtual food, and about the need to implement a VE that can be useful as a virtual lab for studying eating behavior and treating obesity.

Learned and Remembered But Rejected: Preschoolers’ Reality Judgments and Transfer From Sesame Street

Although preschoolers learn from educational TV, they may not use information appropriately due to their developing understanding of video and fantasy-reality distinctions. Seventy 3- to 5-year-olds watched a Sesame Street clip, introduced as either “fun” or “for learning,” that depicted aspects of Hispanic culture (e.g., fiestas). They answered comprehension questions and rated the reality of the educational and fantasy content. Approximately a week later, a seemingly unrelated interviewer asked for help planning a fiesta (transfer task), then reassessed memory and reality judgments. Regardless of condition, children retained most of what they learned, but all ages became increasingly skeptical about the reality of both the educational and fantasy content. Consistent with theorizing about transfer, children’s use of the educational content depended on both memory and reality judgments. Older children remembered the information better than younger children, but memory only predicted transfer if the information was remembered as real.

Visual Hallucinations in Psychiatry's Interconsultation: Charles Bonnet Syndrome

Sometimes psychiatrists don't take account in medical issues in psychiatric patients although it is a classical item we should deal with in everyday practice. One of more interesting issues in psychiatry are visual hallucinations. We report a case about a 49 years old man patient without psychiatric antecedents and visual hallucinations which had started suddenly, so that we reviewed literature about somatic illnesses with visual hallucinations. This patient had a visual disability caused by glaucoma, he didn't have any other psychotic symptomatology, had reality judgment preserved and criticized properly this hallucinations. Finally he was diagnosed of Charles Bonnet syndrome and his symptomatology remitted with Risperidone, but a few weeks later the patient presented some side effects, so that it was necessary to change to Aripiprazole with better response and sustained remission. Charles Bonnet syndrome is characterized by complex, recurrent or persistent visual hallucinations in visually impaired individuals without cognitive or psychiatric disorders. It mainly affects elderly patients affected by macular degeneration associated with age, glaucoma or cataracts but can be found also in some psychiatric and neurological disorders such as abuse of alcohol (delirium tremens) or abuse of other substances, dementia, narcolepsy or long-term sleep deprivation, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, brain tumors, migraine or even infection by Epstein-Barr virus in mononucleosis. It is considered that this phenomenology represents cortical release phenomena due to deafferentation of visual association areas of the cerebral cortex.

Children with Borderline Disorder: Sons of Postmodernism?

Personality disorders are prevalent pathology in outpatient psychiatric services. The patient with borderline disorder presents many difficulties for treatment as often lacks awareness of disease, consultation and also nonspecific symptoms, while still keeping a judgment of reality preserved under certain circumstances it may deviate.

Is it real? The development of judgments about authenticity and ontological status

We examined children's judgments of the real/not-real status of fictional characters given that such judgments can be based either on the ontological status of the character or on the authenticity of a representation of the character. Sixty 3 - 5 year-olds and 20 adults were shown paired photographs of fictional characters (e.g., Bob the Builder) and people dressing up as those characters (e.g., a person wearing a Bob the Builder costume). They were asked whether each depicted character lives in ‘the real world’ (ontology question) and whether each character is ‘the real’ fictional character (authenticity question), and why. As expected, younger children, and to some extent older children, made more accurate authenticity judgments than ontology judgments about the characters, whereas adults made accurate judgments in reply to both questions. Furthermore, younger children did not differentiate between the two questions in their justifications, unlike the older children and adults. Implications for the development of children's ability to make reality judgments about fictional characters are discussed.

Virtual reality exposure for OCD: Is it feasible? [Exposición mediante realidad virtual para el TOC: ¿Es factible?

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is receiving increased attention, especially in the fields of anxiety and eating disorders. This study is the first trial examining the utility of VRET from the perspective of OCD patients. Four OCD women assessed the sense of presence, emotional engagement, and reality judgment, and the anxiety and disgust levels they experimented in four scenarios, called the Contaminated Virtual Environment (COVE), in which they had to perform several activities. The COVE scenarios were presented on a Full HD 46” TV connected to a laptop and to a Kinect device. Results indicate that the COVE scenarios generated a good sense of presence. The anxiety and disgust levels increased as the virtual contamination increased, and the anxiety produced was related to the emotional engagement and sense of presence.

"Vámonos means go, but that's made up for the show": reality confusions and learning from educational TV.

Educational television for young children often combines factual content with fantasy. In 2 experiments, we examined 3- to 5-year-olds' reality judgments and the implications for their learning. In the 1st study, 145 children watched 3 clips featuring (respectively) a Hispanic, a Chinese American, and an Anglo character. Responses indicated age differences in character-reality judgments (e.g., "X can hear me"), acceptance of fantasy (e.g., talking backpacks), rejection of factual content (i.e., Spanish and Chinese words are "just pretend") but not perceived learning. Perceived reality of Chinese and Spanish words used by the characters partially mediated age differences in word comprehension, controlling for viewer ethnicity. In the 2nd study, 114 children were randomly assigned to see clips featuring either Hispanic or Chinese traditions and words. Age differences in reality judgments were replicated and were partially mediated by children's use of evidence or arguments to justify reality judgments and (to a lesser extent) by their cognitive flexibility. Further, children's reality judgments partially mediated age differences in learning of the educational content. Results suggest that reality distinctions improve with age, contributing to children's learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

News Stereotypes, Time, and Fading Priming Effects

Although there is evidence that the media priming effect fades with time, we lack empirical evidence from experimental designs. We investigated the media priming effect of reading crime tabloid articles that overrepresented foreigners as criminals on a subsequent real-world reality judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of criminal foreigners). We utilized a factorial experimental design ( N = 465) with the between-subjects factors treatment and temporal delay of the postmeasurement. We found that the media priming effect followed an exponential decay function and that vigilance (i.e., the tendency to intensify the intake and processing of threat-relevant information) moderated the decay.

Clinical validation of a virtual environment for normalizing eating patterns in eating disorders

The purpose of the present study was to examine the clinical validation of a Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) designed to normalize eating patterns in Eating Disorders (ED). The efficacy of VR in eliciting emotions, sense of presence and reality of the VRE were explored in 22 ED patients and 37 healthy eating individuals. The VRE (non-immersive) consisted of a kitchen room where participants had to eat a virtual pizza. In order to assess the sense of presence and reality produced by the VRE, participants answered seven questions with a Likert scale (0–10) during the experience, and then filled out the Reality Judgment and Presence Questionnaire (RJPQ) and ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory (ITC-SOPI). The results showed that the VRE induced a sense of presence and was felt as real for both groups, without differences in the experience of “ease” with the VRE, sense of physical space, or the ecological validity assigned to the virtual kitchen and eating virtually. However, the ED patients reported paying more attention and experiencing greater emotional involvement and dysphoria after virtual eating. The results suggest that the VRE was clinically meaningful to the ED patients and might be a relevant therapy tool for normalizing their eating patterns.