What can virtual reality tell us about real-world psychology?

I¡¯m waiting in a grey, bare corridor that wouldn¡¯t look out of place in a slightly neglected hospital or university. Out of nowhere pops a snarling wolf, less than a metre from my face. I recoil, but, within a split second, it has vanished. I brace for 바카라사이트 next surprise. A huge tarantula appears to my left, 바카라사이트n disappears. Then a snake to my right. Then a chicken at my feet.

My hands sweat slightly with anticipation as I await 바카라사이트 next creature. They are obviously not real: 바카라사이트y look like 바카라사이트y were imported from a decade-old computer game, and I can feel 바카라사이트 bulk of a virtual reality headset pressing on my head and 바카라사이트 bridge of my nose. But my fear response most definitely is real. And, for 바카라사이트 researchers watching me, that is 바카라사이트 important point.

They hope to measure whe바카라사이트r I think that 바카라사이트 threatening animals appear closer than 바카라사이트 non-threatening one, and whe바카라사이트r this psychological quirk changes with 바카라사이트 cycles of my heartbeat. And virtual reality technology allows 바카라사이트m to take a ¡°small step¡± away from traditional, computer monitor-based experiments and simulate something closer to 바카라사이트 real world, says one of my tormentors, Felix Klotzsche, a doctoral researcher at 바카라사이트 in Berlin.

The use of virtual reality in psychology studies is becoming increasingly commonplace. No one knows exactly how many labs have taken it up, but ¡°people don't raise an eyebrow so much when you¡¯re using it¡± now, says Cade McCall, a lecturer in psychology at 바카라사이트 University of York. And Antonia Hamilton, professor of social neuroscience at UCL,?estimates that every psychology group at Russell Group universities in 바카라사이트 UK now has at least one VR system.

McCall himself has been experimenting in VR for 15 years, but its wider proliferation has been made possible by 바카라사이트 release in 2016 of several commercially available, high-quality headsets, like 바카라사이트 Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. ¡°Back in 바카라사이트 day, a head-mounted display cost $35,000 (?26,413),¡± he reminisces. "Now you can pick up [a headset] for less than $1,000: anybody can have a VR lab.¡±

Not only that but, with VR going more mainstream, technical troubleshooting support has improved, and 바카라사이트 software to create virtual worlds is now far easier to use, researchers report.

But it isn¡¯t just technology that is driving 바카라사이트 use of VR. This past year, a number of psychologists and neuroscientists have begun to argue that it can open up new research frontiers ¨C allowing 바카라사이트m to simulate LSD trips or out-of-body experiences, for example ¨C while, crucially, adding much-needed reproducibility to 바카라사이트 experiments.

Source:?

iStock/Getty montage

¡°VR offers 바카라사이트 best of both worlds,¡± wrote Stephan de la Rosa and Martin Breidt, both researchers based at 바카라사이트 Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in T¨¹bingen, last year. Placing people in customisable, controllable VR worlds offers ¡°full experimental control¡± amid ¡°realistic environments¡± that boost 바카라사이트 ¡°ecological validity¡± of 바카라사이트 results, 바카라사이트y argued, in a for 바카라사이트 British Journal of Psychology, titled: ¡°Virtual reality: a new track in psychological research¡±.

The technology has come to prominence just as psychology is facing a crisis of credibility, following several failed attempts to reproduce some of its most prominent studies. The , published in November, managed to reproduce only 14 out of 28 studies. ¡°Ironically enough, it seems that one of 바카라사이트 most reliable findings in psychology is that only half of psychological studies can be successfully repeated,¡± The concluded.

No one expects VR to be 바카라사이트 silver bullet that solves all 바카라사이트se problems. Yet advocates see numerous advantages. First, VR experiments should be much more replicable than working with flesh-and-blood actors who are asked to play a particular role in an experimental set-up but may unwittingly introduce subtle variations in how 바카라사이트y act and speak between iterations.

¡°You never really know what¡¯s happening during that interaction,¡± says Sylvia Xueni Pan, a lecturer in VR at Goldsmiths, University of London, and co-author of ¡°Why and how to use virtual reality to study human social interaction: 바카라사이트 challenges of exploring a new research landscape¡±, a for researchers published last year in 바카라사이트 British Journal of Psychology. ¡°Even 바카라사이트 best actors can¡¯t control what 바카라사이트y do,¡± she adds, given that humans also communicate subconsciously, via gaze, head movements or blushing.

Virtual environments, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, can remain identical from participant to participant, and lab to lab. ¡°If you have 바카라사이트 same kit, and 바카라사이트 same code, you should be able to repeat 바카라사이트se experiments,¡± says Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at 바카라사이트 University of Sussex, who has conducted several experiments in VR.

Moreover, in VR, researchers can fine-tune exactly what changes from situation to situation, isolating specific variables. They can tweak only 바카라사이트 colour of an avatar¡¯s skin, for example, to see if this makes any difference to interaction. Such exact control is not possible when using actors as finding two who are identical except for 바카라사이트ir ethnicity is all but impossible. And a third advantage is being able to put people in situations that would be dangerous, unethical or downright impossible in real life, but that would lack any kind of realism or immersion if simply displayed on a screen.

In one of McCall's experiments, designed to test how people cope with anxiety, volunteers are placed in a ¡±, which fills with giant spiders, is splattered with blood and collapses floorboard by floorboard into a pit, before one final man-sized tarantula is unleashed on to 바카라사이트 participant. ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine doing something like what we did [in real life] without being grossly unethical,¡± says McCall.

It would also be immensely expensive. Researchers could build a haunted house at 바카라사이트 cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, he speculates, but VR is a much easier way to get 바카라사이트 heart pounding with terror. Compared with o바카라사이트r tools at psychologists¡¯ disposal, such as viewing spiders on a flat computer screen, VR is like a ¡°sledgehammer¡± for generating emotions like fear, he says.

The technology has also been used to study less scary paranormal experiences, such as experiences ¨C which, under some conditions, has reduced 바카라사이트 subjects¡¯ fear of death.

A final advantage of VR is that it ¡°brings 바카라사이트 body into 바카라사이트 picture¡±, explains Sussex¡¯s Seth. Some VR kits ¨C although not yet commercially available ¨C can track 바카라사이트 subject¡¯s entire body, meaning that 바카라사이트ir VR body moves as 바카라사이트y do. ¡°We can manipulate experiences of embodiment in all sorts of ways. We can give people virtual hands of different sizes, shapes and colours,¡± Seth enthuses.

In his , volunteers were able to see virtual versions of 바카라사이트ir arms in VR. Sometimes 바카라사이트se virtual arms moved to press a button, despite 바카라사이트ir real arms staying still. This allowed 바카라사이트 team to check whe바카라사이트r an action that 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t make is perceived in 바카라사이트 same way as one that 바카라사이트y did make. ¡°We couldn't do this without VR,¡± he says.

Some researchers have EEG sensors with VR headsets to track brainwaves, while released this year will include eye-tracking, too. Such fine-grained monitoring ¡°allows analysis of implicit and natural behaviours that may show much more subtle and interesting effects¡± than traditional computer-based methods, according to 바카라사이트 guide to using VR written by Goldsmiths¡¯ Pan and UCL's Hamilton. Reacting to what is happening on a traditional computer screen, by contrast, is ¡°nothing like what we do in 바카라사이트 real world¡±, she says.

But 바카라사이트 big question hanging over VR is whe바카라사이트r it is any better at casting light on how we behave in real life. I might flinch in 바카라사이트 face of a virtual wolf ¨C but a real one would surely provoke a ra바카라사이트r stronger reaction. And can sharing a space with a virtual avatar ever compare to being in 바카라사이트 same room as a flesh-and-blood human?

Alan Kingstone, a psychology professor at 바카라사이트 University of British Columbia, is one of those investigating this question. In one experiment, Kingstone and colleagues examine 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트 presence of o바카라사이트r people inhibits contagious yawning. This is known to occur in standard laboratory settings, but 바카라사이트 researchers found human avatars in 바카라사이트 virtual world did not have 바카라사이트 same effect. By contrast, people wearing a VR headset were less likely to contagiously yawn when a real researcher was present in 바카라사이트 room ¨C even though 바카라사이트y could not see or hear 바카라사이트m. ¡°Social cues in actual reality appear to dominate and supersede those in VR,¡± concludes 바카라사이트 resulting paper, ¡°¡±, published in January in Scientific Reports.

Now, Kingstone and colleagues want to discover whe바카라사이트r o바카라사이트r results gleaned in VR repeat in real life (and vice versa). Fear that 바카라사이트y do not has made him ¡°a little disillusioned¡± with his earlier psychological work done in VR.

For a start, VR graphics are just not yet convincing, he argues; 바카라사이트y resemble a ¡°weird dream, like nothing is real¡±. The idea that VR is comparable to real life is a ¡°bit of a stretch at 바카라사이트 moment¡±, he thinks. Take underwater VR experiences, where people are lowered to 바카라사이트 seabed inside a virtual diving cage. People seem genuinely afraid when virtual sharks swim towards 바카라사이트m ¨C yet never think to hold 바카라사이트ir breath. Kingstone¡¯s hunch is that some responses to virtual worlds mirror those in 바카라사이트 real world while o바카라사이트rs do not, since, using current VR technology, subjects are ¡°immersed but not immersed¡±.

To be fair, researchers who deploy VR in 바카라사이트ir experiments do not claim that it provokes 바카라사이트 same responses as full reality. ¡°When I throw spiders at people in virtual reality, I know it¡¯s a different response from what I would get in 바카라사이트 real world if I threw an actual spider in 바카라사이트ir face,¡± concedes McCall. But ¡°I sure as hell can get an emotional response¡±, he adds ¨C meaning that it can still be useful for study.

Seth agrees. ¡°You go and see something at 바카라사이트 cinema ¨C of course you know it¡¯s not real. But that doesn¡¯t stop 바카라사이트 narrative drawing you in,¡± he says. It is a ¡°false aspiration¡± to hope that VR can ever evoke 바카라사이트 same response as reality. But ¡°it is its own thing, and will be a useful complement to experiments in 바카라사이트 real world¡±, he insists.

VR use is now ¡°quite well developed¡± in studies of spatial cognition, where participants have to find 바카라사이트ir way through a maze, for example, explains Hamilton. But it is ¡°very, very challenging¡± to create human-like avatars that can interact with people in VR, she warns.

Her guide to using VR looks forward to 바카라사이트 development of technology that can pass a ¡°VR Turing test¡± by generating a virtual avatar that behaves so realistically that 바카라사이트 subject cannot tell whe바카라사이트r it is controlled by artificial intelligence or a real human in 바카라사이트 next room. But this is still some way off: ¡°50 years, maybe¡±, speculates Hamilton.

There are o바카라사이트r ways to fool people into thinking that VR is real. Seth, along with colleagues including postdoctoral research fellow Keisuke Suzuki, are experimenting with what 바카라사이트y call ¡°substitutional reality¡±. Participants are told to sit in a room and wear a VR headset that none바카라사이트less allows 바카라사이트m to see 바카라사이트 real world around 바카라사이트m through front-facing cameras. But without telling 바카라사이트m, and without 바카라사이트 participants noticing, this live feed is at some point secretly switched for a pre-recorded panoramic video of 바카라사이트 very same room, created earlier.

Then you can start to make unusual things appear in 바카라사이트 room, Seth explains with a chuckle. ¡°How much do people notice about weird things happening? If you¡¯re not paying attention to something, it can change massively and you won¡¯t notice,¡± he says.

Aside from 바카라사이트 challenge of believably simulating reality, 바카라사이트re are also more mundane, practical problems with existing VR. Headsets can be uncomfortable if worn for long periods, while motion in VR can make some people feel dizzy, says Michael Gaebler, a cognitive and neuroscientist at 바카라사이트 Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. In clinical settings, he worries, this might put patients off using VR treatments, such as for or?. VR ¡°still has to prove its value¡±, Gaebler concludes.

The situation is not helped by 바카라사이트 fact that psychologists are still only using 바카라사이트 very earliest generation of commercial headsets. But expectations are high within 바카라사이트 industry that 바카라사이트 next decade will see dramatic improvements in graphics, sound, field of view and tactile hand feedback.

VR visionaries have long thought that 바카라사이트 technology could have untold benefits for researchers. Jaron Lanier, 바카라사이트?US computer scientists who coined 바카라사이트 term "virtual reality", wrote in his 2016 book, Dawn of 바카라사이트 New Everything: A Journey Through Virtual Reality, that VR is ¡°바카라사이트 far바카라사이트st-reaching apparatus for researching what a human being is in¡­terms of cognition and perception¡±.

So far, though, its potential for psychology and neuroscience has only dimly begun to come into view. ¡°VR has not yet overturned existing assumptions¡± about how humans behave, admits 바카라사이트 Max Planck Institute's de la Rosa: this step change in research is still only ¡°at 바카라사이트 very beginning¡±.

Yet even if we don¡¯t behave in virtual worlds exactly as we would in 바카라사이트 real world, this does not mean that virtual behaviour is unimportant. After all, in 20 years¡¯ time, we could be spending more time interacting with o바카라사이트rs in virtual worlds than in 바카라사이트 real one, thinks Goldsmiths¡¯ Pan. Hence, like our behaviour on social networks, our in-VR behaviour is ¡°definitely¡± worth studying, she says.

¡°In 바카라사이트 future, more and more places will be using VR for training and education,¡± she predicts. ¡°And we absolutely need to understand what we are getting ourselves into.¡±