Pointing out sickness : Detection of sickness from gait patterns

• Background: The ability to detect sick individuals is crucial for survival, by allowing avoidance of contagion. We have shown that humans can detect sick individuals from facial cues and body odors, but perception of these cues requires close proximity to the infectious person. Given that gait patterns can be detected from a distance and are altered during sickness, it would be beneficial to detect sickness from biological motion. Methods: We collected videos and point-light displays of walking individuals who were either made sick experimentally with an injection of lipopolysaccharide, or who were healthy (placebo). In study 1, 106 naive subjects watched these displays and rated them as coming from someone sick or healthy. In study 2, 106 other subjects rated health, sadness and tiredness of the displays on a VAS scale. Results: In Study 1, the sensitivity was 59% for videos and 57% for point-light displays, while the specificity was 74% for videos and 61% for point-light displays. Additional results will be presented at the conference. Conclusion: This study will indicate if sickness can be detected from gait patterns, possibly adding to immune defensive behaviors by facilitating avoidance of contagious peers.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

detecting sick individuals

avoidance of contagion

gait patterns

VAS scale

psykologi

Psychology

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

art (subject category)