“ Climate change is invisible , and VR can make it visible . Climate change can feel far away , and VR can make it close .”
— JEREMY BAILENSON , DIRECTOR , VIRTUAL HUMAN INTERACTION LAB
BEHAVORIAL STUDY Jeremy Bailenson , above , founded the Virtual Human Interaction Lab in 2003 ; HP VR technology in the lab , above right . Lab manager Brian Beams talks to Mark Roman Miller , a researcher , opposite .
“ Very few groups are doing studies in that area to understand how to measure things such as empathy . How does one measure the ability of virtual environments and avatars to shift one ’ s attitudes ?” says
Walter Greenleaf , a visiting scholar at VHIL who is a neuroscientist , technologist , and expert on the medical applications of VR technology .
Bailenson ’ s team also conducts research with experiences that are dangerous , impossible , counterproductive , or expensive — an acronym known as DICE . It can be invaluable for training in situations that are risky to replicate , like firefighters entering burning buildings , or costly to practice , such as astronaut training .
It also can transform abstract concepts like climate change into scenarios that users experience viscerally . For example , Bailenson ’ s lab has developed The Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience , where viewers can observe the ocean absorbing CO₂ molecules and watch as a rocky reef degrades and marine life disappears , to personally visualize the damaging effect of carbon pollution on marine life .
The VR experience , which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016 and is being deployed in museums and schools , is now downloadable .
“ Climate change is invisible , and VR can make it visible . Climate change can feel far away , and VR can make it close ,” says Bailenson .
Getting results Beyond creating and teeing up virtual experiences , VHIL is focused on understanding how the experiences change people . Bailenson ’ s team thinks carefully about how to monitor attitude shifts taking place in VR .
“ Behavioral data is the gold standard of measurement in psychology ,” says Mark Roman Miller , a PhD student in Bailenson ’ s lab who studies nonverbal behavior and social interaction in VR .
The team tracks behavioral changes immediately after a VR experience and through follow-up tests . After a subject flies through an abandoned city as a superhero , searching for survivors , the researchers knock something over and measure the likelihood of the user jumping in to help pick it up — a proxy for altruistic behavior — compared with someone who didn ’ t have the VR rescue experience . J
HP / INNOVATION / FALL 2021 19