Poster No:
830
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Wey Guan Lem1, Kelssy Hitomi dos Santos Kawata1, Koki Ono1, Hiroshi Oyama1
Institutions:
1The University of Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Koki Ono
The University of Tokyo
Japan, Tokyo
Introduction:
The public stigma of mental illness is the general public's negative misconceptions about people with mental illness [1, 2]. Public stigma regarding mental illness significantly impacts individuals with such conditions, often leading to detrimental outcomes like employment disparities [3] and inhibited treatment-seeking behaviors [4]. First-person perspective (1PP) immersive virtual reality (IVR) anti-stigma intervention has emerged as a method to improve knowledge of mental illness knowledge [5, 6]. However, the neural correlates of individual difference in mental illness knowledge acquisition using 1PP IVR anti-stigma intervention and the effectiveness of stigma reduction has not yet been studied. This study explores the neurobiological underpinnings of how individual differences in mental illness knowledge acquisition manifest following a 1PP IVR anti-stigma intervention and the effectiveness of this intervention to the stigma reduction.
Methods:
Using a randomized cross-over trial, 32 right-handed native Japanese (14 female; M = 24.00, SD = 6.10 years) were randomized into either the IVR-control group or control-IVR group. As for the intervention, the IVR group used a 1PP Immersive Virtual Reality Anti-stigma (IVRAS) application via head-mounted display (HMD), while participants in the control group watched the same content of the 1PP IVRAS application through a computer screen. In the 1PP IVRAS application, participants took on the role of a person with mental illness in 1PP and experienced stigma from colleagues and support from family.
Pre- and post-intervention assessments included standardized measures for mental illness knowledge (MIDUS) and public stigma (RIBS-J), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. During the fMRI scanning, all participants were asked to listen to the main auditory content of the 1PP IVRAS application while wearing a sleeping mask to minimize the visual effects generated on removing the HMD after using the IVR application.
For the behavioural data, the two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA and Friedman tests were conducted for MIDUS and RIBS-J, respectively, with time as a within-participant factor (pre- vs. post-intervention) and intervention type as the between-participant factor (IVR vs. control).
Regression analysis on the absolute changes in the MIDUS scores, mental illness knowledge acquisition brain activity was examined for each group. The voxel-wise statistics used an uncorrected p-value of <0.005 for the cluster-forming threshold and at a threshold of family-wise error (FWE)-corrected p-value of <0.05 for cluster extent.
The protocol received approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Tokyo (2019099NI).
Results:
Both the 1PP IVR and control groups showed improvement in mental illness knowledge acquisition score, but only the 1PP IVR group showed reduced public stigma score towards people with mental illness. Furthermore, distinct brain activation was identified for both groups. Mental illness knowledge acquisition using the 1PP IVRAS application was associated with right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) activation, a critical brain region for empathic concern when mentalizing about another person's illness [7]. In contrast, control group showed right anterior insula activation previously implicated in empathic distress about people with mental illness [8].
Conclusions:
Our findings indicate that 1PP IVRAS application specifically enhance mental illness knowledge retention and decrease public stigma by changing brain regions associated with empathic understanding. This suggests the potential of 1PP IVR in educational strategies for stigma reduction. By identifying the SFG's role in stigma intervention, this study opens avenues for targeted brain-based stigma mitigation approaches and underscores the importance of 1PP IVRAS in empathy-driven learning on stigma.
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Social Neuroscience Other 1
Learning and Memory:
Skill Learning 2
Keywords:
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Other - virtual reality, public stigma, mental illness, first-person perspective
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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