A four-minute virtual London Underground journey has helped to research people’s paranoid thoughts.

A computer simulation of an Underground train journey has been developed by researchers at King’s College London to study the extent of people’s paranoid thoughts – the first time paranoia has been accurately studied in a laboratory test.

A four-minute virtual London Underground journey, complete with soundtrack, was experienced by 200 volunteers wearing virtual reality headsets. On the journey, they encountered computer-animated people (avatars), some of whom were reading newspapers, some smiling, while some met the gaze of the volunteers.

The results showed that suspicious or paranoid thoughts were more common than previously thought. Around 40% of volunteers experienced at least one paranoid thought, while those who were anxious or worried were more likely to experience paranoid feelings.

Dr Daniel Freeman led the study at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. He concluded that paranoia was highly likely in settings such as on public transport, due to the trapped environment and limited ability to hear others over the general noise.

He commented on the study: “…It is very difficult to recreate such social interactions. Virtual reality allows us to do just that, to look at how different people interpret exactly the same social situation. It is a uniquely powerful method to detect those liable to misinterpret other people.

“In the past, only those with a severe mental illness were thought to experience paranoid thoughts, but now we know that this is simply not the case. About one-third of the general population regularly experience persecutory thoughts. This shouldn’t be surprising. At the heart of all social interactions is a vital judgment whether to trust or mistrust, but it is a judgment that is error-prone.”

Previously, paranoia had only been studied through the use of questionnaires. It is hoped that virtual reality devices will be able to help patients test out their fears in the future as part of their therapy.

The full report, funded by the biomedical research charity the Wellcome Trust, is published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.