Adaptation as a Sensorial Profile in Trait Anxiety: A Study With Virtual Reality

doi:10.1016/S0887-6185(00)00052-9

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Volume 14, Issue 6, November–December 2000, Pages 583-601

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(00)00052-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

Twenty-four volunteers were recruited on the basis of their trait anxiety scores (low trait anxiety [LTA] and high trait anxiety [HTA]) as assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Adaptation to conflicting visual–vestibular stimulation (VVS) was used to study integration of space-related multi-sensory information in trait anxiety. First, vestibular perception was assessed by rotating the blindfolded subjects about the vertical axis (horizontal plane rotations) on a remote-controlled mobile robot. The subjects were asked to indicate the perceived rotation by use of an angular pointer. Subjects were then immersed into the center of a visual virtual square room by means of a head-mounted display. They were asked to control the robot with a joystick in order to perform 90° rotations in the virtual room. However, a gain of 0.5 was introduced between visual scene and robot rotation so that the subjects were submitted to a conflict situation in which the 90° rotational visual input was concurrent with a 180° vestibular input. After 45 min of training with the virtual reality display, subjects were tested again in total darkness in order to determine whether their vestibular system had been reset by the conflicting visual signals. We found significant differences in adaptation to VVS between HTA and LTA groups as well as between males and females. Subjects of the HTA group demonstrated larger adaptation than that of the LTA group. Males also showed a greater level of adaptation compared to females. Our results suggest greater visual dependence in HTA subjects. This might be important for understanding the mechanisms underlying pathological anxiety and particularly agoraphobia.

Section snippets

Subjects

Twenty-four individuals were selected from a pool of 253 undergraduate students. These volunteers were recruited on the basis of their extreme trait anxiety score as assessed by the STAI. Twelve students whose scores on the STAI were 50 or higher formed the High Trait Anxiety group (HTA), and another 12 whose scores were 31 or less formed the Low Trait Anxiety group (LTA). The scores of 31 and 50 represent the upper and lower 15 percentile, respectively, for the 253 screened students (Mean =

VVS (Phase ii)

Most subjects were not aware of the discrepancy between visual and vestibular information. After completing the whole experiment, they were asked about their sensations during rotations in the visual virtual room. Most subjects did not report any conflict or incoherence. One subject felt from the beginning of the VVS that she was turning faster than the image. Another one asked several times whether there was a discrepancy, and managed finally to convince himself that there was none.

None of the

Discussion

Adaptation of turning estimates during visual–vestibular interaction was studied in two samples of LTA and HTA, respectively. The HTA sample was found to have a significantly larger decrease of estimates of rotation (pure vestibular stimulation) after VVS than the LTA sample. In addition, there was a significant gender effect. It should be noted that the procedure was not anxiogenic. State anxiety scores were higher before the experiment than after, and the decrease in heart rate was the same

Acknowledgements

Supported by SmithKline Beecham and Groupement d'Intérêt Scientifique Sciences de la Cognition, grant 97N35/0031.

The authors are grateful to Joe McIntyre, Ph.D., Werner Graf, M.D., Ph.D., and Spilios Argyropoulos, M.D., for their helpful comments on the text. We thank France Maloumian for her help with illustrations.

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However, they indicate a different strategy for orientation in space in LTA and HTA individuals, suggesting that the use of vestibular information and its integration with own body representation in space is affected by trait anxiety. Since trait anxiety did not modulate vestibular integration when vestibular information were used in isolation, we devised another experiment (Viaud-Delmon et al., 1998, 2000a) in order to study relative weighting of different sensory information directly related to space processing in anxious participants. The flexibility of spatially coordinated behavior may be studied by temporarily distorting the normal relationship between one stimulus dimension and another, and measuring the adaptive changes that occur in selected perceptual and perceptual-motor tasks.
Complaints related to dizziness, balance problems and spatial disorientation in psychiatry have seldom been considered as a possible manifestation of a distorted multisensory integrative ability. Several kinds of mismatches among simultaneous sensory information are encountered in everyday life but despite these, the central nervous system usually manages to update the internal representation of the body in the surrounding space. In some cases, a sensory mismatch may elicit an erroneous perception of the body in space, resulting in anxiety, dizziness and balance problems.
As vestibular system dysfunction leads to dizziness and disorientation, it has been hypothesized that a peripheral vestibular abnormality could explain the presence of certain symptoms related to sensory mismatches in anxiety disorders. Several studies tried to find a link between panic disorder with or without agoraphobia and vestibular system dysfunction. Yet, even though some vestibular abnormalities have been demonstrated in these patients, it is difficult to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between panic disorder and vestibular dysfunction. However, this does not rule out a possible influence of anxiety on normal vestibular function. The study of the relation between vestibular system and anxiety has to take into account that the vestibular system has three main functions: to maintain equilibrium through the vestibular spinal reflexes; to stabilize the visualization of the world through the vestibular-ocular reflex; to contribute to perception and orientation in space.
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Research paperAdaptation as a Sensorial Profile in Trait Anxiety: A Study With Virtual Reality

Abstract

Section snippets

Subjects

VVS (Phase ii)

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Clinical Psychology Review

Psychiatric Clinics of North America

Comprehensive Psychiatry

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

European Psychiatry

Neurologic Clinics

Comprehensive Psychiatry

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Linking mind and brain in the study of mental illnessesA project for a scientific psychopathology

Science

Über “Platzschwindel.”

Allegemeine Wiener Medizinishce Zeitung

Phobic postural vertigo

Neurology

Sex, sex-role stereotyping and agoraphobia

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences

Test for right-left discrimination

Perceptual and Motor Skills

Further evidence for gender differences in circularvection

Journal of Vestibular Research

Nosologie méthodique. Volume II

Panic and panic disorder in the United States

American Journal of Psychiatry

Psychiatric dizziness

Neurology

Use of triangular waveforms of angular velocity in the study of vestibular function

Acta Otolaryngologica

Manual for the spatial visualisation test

Spatial orientation in humansPerception of angular whole-body displacements in two-dimensional displacements in two-dimensional trajectories

Experimental Brain Research

The contribution of otoliths and semicircular canals to the perception of two-dimensional passive whole-body motion in humans

Journal of Physiology (London)

Research paper
Adaptation as a Sensorial Profile in Trait Anxiety: A Study With Virtual Reality