Confusing virtual reality with reality – An experimental study
Summary: Virtual reality’s (VR) ability to create convincing illusions of presence makes it a powerful media for therapeutic and prosocial applications. Correspondingly, it also presents ethical challenges as the line between the real and virtual blurs, the focus of our study. Forty-nine participant...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225009162 |
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| Summary: | Summary: Virtual reality’s (VR) ability to create convincing illusions of presence makes it a powerful media for therapeutic and prosocial applications. Correspondingly, it also presents ethical challenges as the line between the real and virtual blurs, the focus of our study. Forty-nine participants interacted with a virtual experimenter that invited participants to sit on a chair, with 20% doing so without checking for a real chair. The virtual experimenter had also placed a tablet in a drawer, and a week later, in the corresponding real room, 45% of participants expected a tablet to be in the same place. Additionally, implicit attitudes were influenced based on subtle differences in wording of interview questions asked by the virtual experimenter. A Bayesian analysis supported these findings. Hence, participants may take virtual objects as real, risking their safety, or may inappropriately apply observations in VR to real-life problem solving, resulting in vulnerability to deception. |
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| ISSN: | 2589-0042 |