Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task

Martin Dechant; Julian Frommel; Regan L. Mandryk

doi:10.1145/3411764.3445238

Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task

Martin Dechant, Julian Frommel, Regan L. Mandryk

University of Saskatchewan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Digital biomarkers of mental health issues ofer many advantages, including timely identifcation for early intervention, ongoing assessment during treatment, and reducing barriers to assessment stemming from geography, age, fear, or disparities in access to systems of care. Embedding digital biomarkers into games may further increase the reach of digital assessment. In this study, we explore game-based digital biomarkers for social anxiety, based on interaction with a non-player character (NPC).We show that social anxiety afects a player's accuracy and their movement path in a gaming task involving an NPC. Further, we compared frst versus third-person camera perspectives and the use of customized versus predefned avatars to explore the infuence of common game interface factors on the expression of social anxiety through in-game movements. Our fndings provide new insights about how game-based digital biomarkers can be efectively used for social anxiety, afording the benefts of early and ongoing digital assessment.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publication	Making Waves, Combining Strengths
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450380966
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445238
Publication status	Published - 6 May 2021
Externally published	Yes
Event	10th International Conference on Materials Processing and Characterisation, ICMPC 2020 - Mathura, U.P., India Duration: 21 Feb 2020 → 23 Feb 2020

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	10th International Conference on Materials Processing and Characterisation, ICMPC 2020
Country/Territory	India
City	Mathura, U.P.
Period	21/02/20 → 23/02/20

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank NSERC and SWaGUR for funding, members of the Interaction Lab at the University of Saskatchewan, and our participants.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 ACM.

Funding

We thank NSERC and SWaGUR for funding, members of the Interaction Lab at the University of Saskatchewan, and our participants.

Keywords

Assessment
Digital biomarker
Gaming
Social anxiety

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1145/3411764.3445238

Cite this

Dechant, M., Frommel, J., & Mandryk, R. L. (2021). Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task. In CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445238

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title = "Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task",

abstract = "Digital biomarkers of mental health issues ofer many advantages, including timely identifcation for early intervention, ongoing assessment during treatment, and reducing barriers to assessment stemming from geography, age, fear, or disparities in access to systems of care. Embedding digital biomarkers into games may further increase the reach of digital assessment. In this study, we explore game-based digital biomarkers for social anxiety, based on interaction with a non-player character (NPC).We show that social anxiety afects a player's accuracy and their movement path in a gaming task involving an NPC. Further, we compared frst versus third-person camera perspectives and the use of customized versus predefned avatars to explore the infuence of common game interface factors on the expression of social anxiety through in-game movements. Our fndings provide new insights about how game-based digital biomarkers can be efectively used for social anxiety, afording the benefts of early and ongoing digital assessment.",

keywords = "Assessment, Digital biomarker, Gaming, Social anxiety",

author = "Martin Dechant and Julian Frommel and Mandryk, {Regan L.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank NSERC and SWaGUR for funding, members of the Interaction Lab at the University of Saskatchewan, and our participants. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 ACM.; 10th International Conference on Materials Processing and Characterisation, ICMPC 2020 ; Conference date: 21-02-2020 Through 23-02-2020",

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doi = "10.1145/3411764.3445238",

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Dechant, M, Frommel, J & Mandryk, RL 2021, Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task. in CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, 10th International Conference on Materials Processing and Characterisation, ICMPC 2020, Mathura, U.P., India, 21/02/20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445238

Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task. / Dechant, Martin; Frommel, Julian; Mandryk, Regan L.
CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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Dechant M, Frommel J, Mandryk RL. Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task. In CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Association for Computing Machinery. 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). doi: 10.1145/3411764.3445238

Assessing social anxiety through digital biomarkers embedded in a gaming task

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this