Virtual Reality

Researchers have found that visual-motor synchronicity of only the hands and feet can induce a sense of illusory ownership over an invisible body interpolated between virtual hands and feet. This active method to induce a sense of illusory ownership over an invisible body at a distance has potential applications in skill learning/transfer and the concept of body-appearance-irrelevant communication in the future.

Virtual avatar-to-avatar eyewitness interviews may increase the quantity and quality of recalled information compared to face-to-face interviews. A first-of-its-kind study shows that eyewitnesses of a mock car theft provided as much as 60 percent more information when interviewed in an avatar-to-avatar context compared to face-to-face interviews. Study participants also found it easier to talk to the avatar and were more likely to admit when they didn't know the answer to a question.

A new study shows no gender difference or negative effect on a video game player's performance or subjective involvement based on whether a photorealistic avatar looked like them or like their friend.

Locating and discriminating sound sources is extremely complex because the brain must process spatial information from many, sometimes conflicting, cues. Using virtual reality and other immersive technologies, researchers can use new methods to investigate how we make sense of the word with sound.

New research has shown for the first time that a social robot can deliver a 'helpful' and 'enjoyable' motivational interview (MI) -- a counseling technique designed to support behavior change.

Driverless cars will encounter situations requiring moral assessment -- and new research suggests that people may not be happy with the decisions their cars make. Experiments designed to test people's reactions to a driving dilemma that endangers human life, revealed a high willingness for self-sacrifice, a consideration of the age of potential victims and swerving onto the sidewalk to save more lives -- intuitions that are sometimes at odds with ethically acceptable behavior or political guidelines.

TeleHuman 2 -- the world's first truly holographic videoconferencing system -- is being unveiled. TeleHuman2 allows people in different locations to appear before one another in life-size 3-D -- as if they were in the same room.