Frontiers in Psychiatry · Oct 30, 2026
Demographic Group Differences and Reliability of the Virtual Reality Version of the Beijing Performance-based Functional Ecological Test (BJ-PERFECT VR) in Chinese Healthy Adults
By Xia Liu, Xinhe Guo, Yifei Li et al.
The Beijing Performance-based Functional Ecological Test physical version (BJ-PERFECT PROP) is an ecologically valid, performance-based cognitive assessment tool tailored to Chinese cultural contexts. It demonstrates satisfactory reliability and validity. To enhance portability and accessibility, the BJ-PERFECT has been successfully adapted into a virtual reality (VR) format and subsequently validated in both healthy participants and schizophrenia patients. In our study, we explored demographic group differences and proportional scores for the BJ-PERFECT VR based on a census-stratified sample of 726 healthy Chinese adults recruited across six geographic regions, with demographic factors of age, gender, years of education, and childhood residence. Test-retest reliability of BJ-PERFECT VR was also assessed in 54 participants. Analyses revealed that age and rural residence were negatively associated with GFSS scores (F=30.209, p<0.001; F=13.379, p<0.001, respectively), whereas education level showed a positive association (F=5.597, p=0.004). No significant sex differences were observed. Rural residence was associated with lower scores than urban residence (GFSS, F=13.379, p<0.001, Partial η²=0.036). GFSS showed a highly significant practice effect (Z = 3.848, p < 0.001), with borderline test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.709). The vast majority of participants (N=580) experienced minimal simulator sickness symptoms after using the BJ-PERFECT VR(IPQ=3.1±1.0, SSQ=0.2(0, 0.6)). The BJ-PERFECT VR exhibits borderline to moderate reliability, offering substantial potential for broader application in both research and clinical neuropsychiatric settings.