Introducing a New Method for Studying the Effects of Movement Synchrony in Virtual Reality

Introduction: This study introduces a new method to create virtual reality (VR) environments for studying synchrony in human body movements and their prosocial effects. Previous studies have shown the positive effects of synchrony, but more controlled and ecologically valid paradigms are needed to explore these effects deeper and translate them to the therapeutic domain. Methods: A total of 82 healthy subjects participated in this study. They performed simple periodic hand movements in a virtual environment with a virtual character (VC) mimicking them. We used inverse kinematics (IKs) to create character movements. The VCs mimic the participants after a short delay in the synchronous group and after a great delay in the non-synchronous group. The subjective feeling of synchrony and social closeness was measured using a set of rating questionnaires.  Results: The participants in the synchronous group reported more synchrony than the non-synchronous group. The degree of social closeness between the two groups was not significantly different; however, there was a significant positive correlation between the reported degree of synchrony and social closeness within each group.  Conclusion: Using a simple VR environment in which body movements are simulated by IKs can engender the feeling of synchrony and exert its prosocial effects.