Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 6, 2024; 12(34): 6674-6678
Published online Dec 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i34.6674
Multimodal emotion recognition in the metaverse era: New needs and transformation in mental health work
Yan Zeng, Jun-Wen Zhang, Jian Yang
Yan Zeng, Department of Psychology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, China
Jun-Wen Zhang, Jian Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
Author contributions: Zhang JW and Yang J conceptualized and designed the research; Zeng Y and Yang J performed the literature search, analyzed the data, and wrote the original manuscript; Zhang JW edited the final manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Education and Teaching Reform Project of the First Clinical College of Chongqing Medical University, No. CMER202305; and Natural Science Foundation of Tibet Autonomous Region, No. XZ2024ZR-ZY100(Z).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jian Yang, MD, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Youyi Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, China. yangjian@hospital.cqmu.edu.cn
Received: March 26, 2024
Revised: August 24, 2024
Accepted: September 4, 2024
Published online: December 6, 2024
Processing time: 199 Days and 13.6 Hours
Abstract

This editorial comments on an article recently published by López del Hoyo et al. The metaverse, hailed as "the successor to the mobile Internet", is undoubtedly one of the most fashionable terms in recent years. Although metaverse development is a complex and multifaceted evolutionary process influenced by many factors, it is almost certain that it will significantly impact our lives, including mental health services. Like any other technological advancements, the metaverse era presents a double-edged sword for mental health work, which must clearly understand the needs and transformations of its target audience. In this editorial, our primary focus is to contemplate potential new needs and transformation in mental health work during the metaverse era from the perspective of multimodal emotion recognition.

Keywords: Multimodal emotion recognition; Metaverse; Needs; Transformation; Mental health

Core Tip: As the successor to the mobile Internet, metaverse refers to a shared, persistent, three-dimensional virtual space that serves as a digital extension of the real world. The future development of the metaverse is fraught with potential variables and uncertainties; however, we can discuss its possible directions and challenges. This editorial focuses on contemplating potential new needs and transformation in mental health work during the metaverse era from the perspective of multimodal emotion recognition.