How virtual reality helps psychologists

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about “virtual reality”? Probably in video games or in worlds where you can create your own avatar, like those offered by Meta. However, virtual reality is also a very useful tool for psychology research.

And this is because it allows you to present all types of objects and situations in a very realistic, but at the same time very controlled way. All this at a much lower cost than if we recreated a similar situation in real life.

These technologies allow us, for example, to simulate climbing a mountain or encountering a room full of spiders. But we can also manipulate objects and situations at will: we can change the effect of gravity or make objects appear and disappear. All of these aspects provide great universality that can be used to understand how we think and behave. Let’s look at a few examples.

Find objects in virtual worlds

Why is it sometimes so difficult for us to find something? Experiments with virtual reality give us some answers. In one of our studies, we used a virtual apartment that participants could move around. The task was to find a series of objects. At first, the positions of the objects were stable. Then suddenly they began to change.

This manipulation was sufficient to interfere with movement planning. Participants first looked at the remembered position of the object. They then had to explore it to find it in a new location. The interesting aspect is that the research focused only on those areas where the objects were most likely to be found.

Other groups of researchers have obtained similar results. A recent study presented objects that were coherent or inconsistent with the scene, in addition to manipulating the supporting or fixing surfaces of these objects, which could be placed on furniture or on neutral cubes.

In the experiment, it was easy to find objects in a coherent context. However, the mismatch between object and context made searching difficult. The same thing happened if the anchor elements were removed. That is, we look for objects in familiar contexts and on surfaces where they usually appear.

Exploring Social Interactions and Racism

The use of virtual reality also allows us to study different aspects of social interaction. For example, the research team decided to analyze why, when in a group, we tend to move in unison. And this was done using a large room virtual reality (CAVE), which allows the simulation of complex social contexts such as clinics, bars or even concerts.

The virtual avatars could move synchronously with the participant or asynchronously. Well, the authors found that synchronization had a positive effect on perceived social connectedness with the group.

The use of virtual avatars also allows us to better understand the phenomenon of racism. In another article from the same group, they created an unrealistic member avatar. This avatar can have light or dark skin. Participants practiced Tai Chi in a virtual environment for ten minutes.

The participants suffered from the illusion of body ownership, that is, they identified themselves with the avatar that represented them. This happened even when he was imitating another race. Most interestingly, this identification also reduced implicit bias against black people, and this effect lasted for up to a week. These results suggest that virtual reality can change the way we perceive ourselves and other social groups.

Training of surgeons and firefighters

Virtual reality is also proving very useful in more applied psychological research. For example, it allows us to analyze whether the design of a job or management system is suitable or not. We can put the participant in realistic use situations and see if they make mistakes or what aspects of the design can be improved. And all this before creating the final, real version of the system.

This technology can also be a good tool for training challenging behaviors. For example, it has been used with surgeons, firefighters, astronauts and athletes, simulating situations that are difficult to replicate in a natural context. With the advantage that it gives us a lot of information about the errors made during execution and the reasons why they occur. This allows for improved training strategies.

There are also applications of virtual reality on a therapeutic level. Some research suggests it may help control phobias. For example, it has been used to reduce anxiety about spiders, small animals, or driving situations.

Its effectiveness is also being evaluated in the treatment of other clinical disorders and may be useful in the recovery process from neurological damage or in improving motor function in older people.

Beyond video games, virtual reality can be a great ally for basic and applied research in psychology.