ArticleBMC psychiatry2026
The effect of avatar identity on level-2 visual perspective taking in individuals with schizophrenia.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThis study investigated whether individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) exhibit impairments in Level-2 visual perspective-taking (VPT)-the ability to understand how a scene appears from another's viewpoint-and if using a self-represented avatar could mitigate these deficits.
methodsTwo experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 (N = 63) used a digit inversion task to assess Level-2 VPT based on object appearance. Experiment 2 (N = 62) used a round-table task to assess it based on spatial location. Participants with SZ and healthy controls (HC) performed both tasks under two conditions: using a 'self-avatar' and an 'other-avatar'.
resultsIndividuals with SZ demonstrated significant Level-2 VPT impairments in both experiments. Compared to HC, the SZ group showed significantly lower accuracy and a stronger egocentric bias, particularly in perspective-incongruent conditions. Critically, the self-avatar identity did not produce a selective performance benefit in the SZ group.
conclusionsThe findings confirm pervasive Level-2 VPT deficits in schizophrenia across different task domains. The absence of a schizophrenia-specific self-avatar benefit suggests that an instruction-based self-avatar manipulation alone may be insufficient to selectively improve Level-2 VPT performance in schizophrenia. The cognitive mechanisms underlying this pattern remain to be established. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.
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