Virtual Reality-Based Assessment of Social Skills and Its Application to Mental Illnesses

Appropriate usage of social skills by individual members ensures the survival of communities in the human society. Social skills include the cognitive abilities as well as verbal and nonverbal behaviors indispensable for interpersonal interactions. Abnormal social skills have been reported in patients with mental illnesses including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Various methods, including self-report, interviews, behavioral observation, and clinical rating scales, have been used for the assessment of social skills, but their usefulness has been undermined by subjective or observational biases. Given that a virtual reality system could provide viable environments for individuals to interact with social avatars, it may be one of the most promising tools for assessing social skills that can minimize concerns of assessment related biases.