We introduce a novel procedure that uses dynamic 3-D computer graphics as a diagnostic tool for assessing disease severity in schizophrenia patients, based on their reduced influence of top-down cognitive processes in interpreting bottom-up sensory input. Our procedure uses the hollow-mask illusion, in which the concave side of the mask is misperceived as convex, because familiarity with convex faces dominates sensory cues signaling a concave mask. It is known that schizophrenia patients resist this illusion and their resistance increases with illness severity. Our method uses virtual masks rendered with two competing textures: (a) realistic features that enhance the illusion; (b) random-dot visual noise that reduces the illusion. We control the relative weights of the two textures to obtain psychometric functions for controls and patients and assess illness severity. The primary novelty is the use of a rotating mask that is easy to implement on a wide variety of portable devices and avoids the use of elaborate stereoscopic devices that have been used in the past. Thus our method, which can also be used to assess the efficacy of treatments, provides clinicians the advantage to bring the test to the patient’s own environment, instead of having to bring patients to the clinic.

中文翻译：

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用于为精神分裂症患者设计诊断工具的动态 3D 计算机图形

我们介绍了一种新程序，该程序使用动态 3-D 计算机图形作为评估精神分裂症患者疾病严重程度的诊断工具，基于他们在解释自下而上的感觉输入时自上而下的认知过程的影响降低。我们的程序使用空心面罩错觉，其中面罩的凹面被误认为是凸面，因为对凸面的熟悉支配了发出凹面面罩信号的感官线索。众所周知，精神分裂症患者抵制这种错觉，他们的抵抗力随着疾病的严重程度而增加。我们的方法使用用两个相互竞争的纹理渲染的虚拟蒙版：(a) 增强幻觉的逼真特征；(b) 减少错觉的随机点视觉噪声。我们控制两种纹理的相对权重，以获得对照和患者的心理测量功能并评估疾病严重程度。主要新颖之处在于使用易于在各种便携式设备上实现的旋转遮罩，并避免使用过去使用的精细立体设备。因此，我们的方法也可用于评估治疗效果，为临床医生提供了优势，可以将测试带到患者自己的环境中，而不必将患者带到诊所。