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PresenceThe construct ofpresencehas often been used as a metric to evaluate the utility of a virtual environment. While there is no consensus on an exact definition, the general notion concerns the degree to which the user actually feels as if they are present in the virtual environment (as opposed to present in the physical world). Moreover, related concepts aresocial presence, the degree to which people feel connected to other people in the virtual world, andself presence, the degree to which people believe their own avatar is actually them. Despite broad research on the topic of presence, reliable measures are still lacking, and much debate as to how to quantify the construct exists. Our research in these areas focuses on developing behavioral measures of these constructs (as opposed to self report measures), and on determining the relationship between how real a virtual world or avatar looks and/or behaves and the subjective experience of presence. Overall, findings indicate that behavioral measures are more reliable than self report ones, and that increasing realism can sometimes be counterproductive and result in less subjective presence.

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Walt DisneyHere you leave todayand enter the world ofyesterday, tomorrow,and fantasy.

Diversity SimulationUsing immersive virtual reality, it is possible for someone to literally experience the world as another person. In other words, someone can become a passenger to someone else in an immersive simulation that is designed to demonstrate what it is like to walk a mile in the shoes of another. We are using these simulations to explore relationships of gender, status, and race, and testing the "extended contact" hypothesis, namely that wearing the face of another in a simulation designed to highlight diversity issues can increase awareness.

Tech = elevate reality What we need to realize is that its not just tech for techs sake, but that technology has the power to elevate our reality and push the limits of our own humanity, opening new opportunities for our imagination. Technology turns thought into reality, and establishes creativity as the basis for connection.3

AGENDAStereotypes & Contextual Intro Exemplary cases of MedTech x VRThe power of an Empathy Machine & Illusion of Presence

VR for Mental Health Disorders

Using VR to Bridge the Culture Gap and Counter Cultural Indoctrination

Trying to understand the other side of the cultural gap can feel like entering into an entirely different parallel universe, and I feel like virtual reality has an important role to play in bringing more empathy and understanding to each side.

He sees that there are three primary ways that we learn about the world including our direct sensory experiences, our direct observations of other people, and then a lot of indirect cultural indoctrination that comes from the mainstream media, education, and the culmination of all of our social interactions.

Ian sees that VR has the potential to provide us with a wider range of direct sensory experiences with a diverse range of people and cultures within social VR experiences, and that this has the potential to give us more access to learning from our interactive direct experiences rather than from information that were consuming from different sources of external authority.

Rather than passive consumption, VR allows us to have interactive experiences that could help engage and connect us to each other in new ways that transcend the capabilities of any other technologically-mediated interfaces.

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It's difficult because it's a very experiential medium.You feel your way inside of it.It's a machine, but inside of it,it feels like real life, it feels like truth.And you feel present in the world that you're insideand you feel present with the people that you're inside of it with.Chris MilkTHE EMPATHY MACHINE

If you were walking home and you saw somebody get hit by a bicycle, you would have a very different visual feeling about standing there than if you told your friends about it that night. Theyd hear your story and then go Oh, but they wouldnt have the visual feeling of your whole body being on the scene. Thats the difference with these whole body experiences, when you can walk around and you can be in the middle of it.

It creates a real sense of being present on the scene, she says. It puts the audience in a place where they can experience the sights, sounds and even emotions as events unfold. This is unlike any other medium.

Nonnys work:Hunger, the true story of a diabetics collapse due to starvation while waiting in line at a food bank in Los AngelesProject Syria at the Sundance festival in Utah. Using a mix of real footage and computer graphics, viewers were placed in a calm Aleppo street scene, a sudden mortar attack, and a camp for refugee children.

How do you think VR will transform mainstream journalism?Journalists will realize really fast that VR has a unique power to place viewers on the scene of an eventinstead of watching it from outsideand that thats a really powerful way to engage them emotionally.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdiuL_2Tnp8In all other mediums,your consciousness interprets the medium.In VR, your consciousness is the medium.And that's where I think we just start to scratch the surfaceof the true power of virtual reality.It connects humans to other humans in a profound waythat I've never seen before.So, it's a machine but through this machine we become more compassionate,we become more empathetic, and we become more connected.And ultimatelyWE BECOME MORE HUMAN

If viewers can feel the power of gunfire overhead in Syria and stand shoulder to shoulder with grieving Syrians in the aftermath, theyll understand these tragedies from the insideThe Godmother of VR

If you were walking home and you saw somebody get hit by a bicycle, you would have a very different visual feeling about standing there than if you told your friends about it that night. Theyd hear your story and then go Oh, but they wouldnt have the visual feeling of your whole body being on the scene. Thats the difference with these whole body experiences, when you can walk around and you can be in the middle of it.

It creates a real sense of being present on the scene, she says. It puts the audience in a place where they can experience the sights, sounds and even emotions as events unfold. This is unlike any other medium.

Nonnys work:Hunger, the true story of a diabetics collapse due to starvation while waiting in line at a food bank in Los AngelesProject Syria at the Sundance festival in Utah. Using a mix of real footage and computer graphics, viewers were placed in a calm Aleppo street scene, a sudden mortar attack, and a camp for refugee children.

How do you think VR will transform mainstream journalism?Journalists will realize really fast that VR has a unique power to place viewers on the scene of an eventinstead of watching it from outsideand that thats a really powerful way to engage them emotionally.

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IF I WERE YOU, WOULD I BETTER UNDERSTAND MYSELF?

"We've seen users experience virtual situations as real. This helps patients confront their fears in a protected, controlled and safe environment. And the psychologist is provided with a simple tool which can be integrated into the protocols of traditional treatments.

It has also been observed that effects of some interventions may be translated to real life. Psychology research using Virtual Reality has shown that playing with the perspective of a superhero can encourage altruist behavior in real life [3]. In another experiment with embodiment in VR, researchers found participants with white skin revealed a significant reduction of implicit ethnic bias after seeing themselves in the perspective of a digital avatar with dark skin [4].

These studies point to a great potential use of Embodied Virtual Reality (EVR) to stimulate prosocial behavior and overcome intergroup social barriers. Intergroup bias, related to the lack of empathy [5], is a deeply embedded phenomena in society [6 ,7], especially regarding groups with ethnic differences [8]. Implicit levels of intergroup bias may block empathic responses such as the ability to feel the pain of another person [9] and, especially in men, may interfere in ones sense of fairness in the judgement of others [10].

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Use cases: Medical VR Training

Specific phobias affect about 19 million individuals in the U.S. A recently publishedmeta-analysisof 14 clinical trials showed that VRET was similarly effective in treating specific phobias as real-life exposure therapy. Some examples of companies usingVR to treat anxiety disorders are presented below.TheVirtual Reality Medical Centerhas a system for treating those afraid of flying. It includes software and hardware, complete with airplane seats and a subwoofer system to mimic the sights, sounds and feeling of flying.Virtually Betteralso has software to treat fears such as flying, heights, public speaking and storms. This company has partnered with leading academic institutions, research and treatment facilities to undertake new R&D projects concerning childhood anxiety and childhood social phobias.Anxiety disorders affect at least 40 million people in the U.S.CleVRis a company in the Netherlands developing VR systems forfear of flying, heights and social phobias, also backed by scientific research. The company is undertaking a randomized controlled trial to study the use of VR as a therapists tool to treat psychosis and social phobia. Through proprietary dynamic virtual emotion technology, the overall atmosphere of the simulated social situations can be controlled.Psiousis a company in Spainthat offers a clinical toolkit for therapists to administer and control VRET to treat patients with phobias; it includes VR hardware, a customizable software platform and biofeedback devices.VirtualRetis another tool for psychologists and therapists to help evaluate and treat phobias such as public speaking, flying, heights, blood and public places. They provide a range of virtual environments, hardware and parallel services.

The results so far have been promising; nine of 15 recorded reduced levels of depression after one month, and four of those reported "a clinically significant drop in depression severity".11

How do they work?Playing on the concept of presence as a key factor. Virtual reality introduces the user to a totally virtual environment, while augmented reality brings virtual elements into the real world. Both place patients in clinically relevant situations which are related to their pathology. The key is that we have confirmed that the user experiences these virtual situations are real, whether that be inside a place when they are afraid of flying or being in open spaces when they suffer from agoraphobia. Unlike the real world, however, we can help patients confront their fears in a protected, controlled and safe context. For the psychologist, this is a simple tool which can be integrated into the protocols of traditional treatments.

Neuroscientific research has evidenced ways to create cognitive illusions of feeling in the body of another person through Full Body Ownership Illusions, also called embodiment [1]. In these experiments, psychological and neurophysiological responses of testgroup participants to manipulations of their senses reported that subjects could feel as if they had a different body, a digital avatar, or even a plastic mannequin [1,2].

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Alice in VirtuallandProving that our brain's body representation is highly plastic

rapid illusory incorporation of fake or virtual body (VB) parts, and even illusory attribution of a surrogate whole body as the own body

Patients wear a headset that projects a life-sized image, firstly of an adult and then of a child.The new research tested the technology for the first time on patients with a mental health problem.The project is part of a continuing study at University College London.

Compassionate phrasesThe study took 15 people who were all being treated by the NHS for depression and put them through the avatar experience.

The patient was asked to mentally identify with the adult avatar, which exactly replicated the patient's body movements, in a process known as "embodiment".

They then noticed a separate avatar of a small crying child, who was also in the mirror.They were told to say compassionate phrases to the child to try and comfort and console it.

At this stage of the experiment the roles were then reversed.The scientists altered the headset and the patient was then embodied into the avatar of the child - which then copied the patient's own body movements.The participants then heard the same phrases of compassion spoken back to them from the adult avatar in the person's own voice.

Of the 15 patients, aged between 23-61, nine recorded reduced levels of depression one month after the trial.

The avatar sessions typically lasted for 45 minutes and the patients were given three sessions.

"In this study, by comforting the child and then hearing their own words back, patients are indirectly giving themselves compassion. The aim was to teach patients to be more compassionate towards themselves and less self-critical."

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I AM YOU, YOU ARE METhe role of Full Body Ownership in mental health treatment

Patients wear a headset that projects a life-sized image, firstly of an adult and then of a child.The new research tested the technology for the first time on patients with a mental health problem.The project is part of a continuing study at University College London.

Compassionate phrasesThe study took 15 people who were all being treated by the NHS for depression and put them through the avatar experience.

The patient was asked to mentally identify with the adult avatar, which exactly replicated the patient's body movements, in a process known as "embodiment".

They then noticed a separate avatar of a small crying child, who was also in the mirror.They were told to say compassionate phrases to the child to try and comfort and console it.

At this stage of the experiment the roles were then reversed.The scientists altered the headset and the patient was then embodied into the avatar of the child - which then copied the patient's own body movements.The participants then heard the same phrases of compassion spoken back to them from the adult avatar in the person's own voice.

Of the 15 patients, aged between 23-61, nine recorded reduced levels of depression one month after the trial.

The avatar sessions typically lasted for 45 minutes and the patients were given three sessions.

"In this study, by comforting the child and then hearing their own words back, patients are indirectly giving themselves compassion. The aim was to teach patients to be more compassionate towards themselves and less self-critical."

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Avatar TherapyThe results so far have been promising:

9 of 15 recorded reduced levels of depression after one month, and four of those reported "a clinically significant drop in depression severity

43 highly self-critical women found they became more self-compassionate after they came face to face with an avatar of themselves in a caring, calming mood.

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IF I WERE YOU, WOULD I BETTER UNDERSTAND MYSELF?

CONCEPTMore than individuals, we are part of a social collective called humanity. As members of this collective, the perception of our own identity is based on our relation with other people and our social environment: how people see us, how we do act and interact with them, and what self image we project to this society and to ourselves. As part of this collective society, the importance of understanding the Other and Each Other to better understand ourselves is clear. This multidisciplinary artistic investigation plans to use the recent neuroscience approach of embodiment and apply it to investigate the perception and comprehension about the Self based on the comprehension of the Other.

DEVELOPMENTThe Machine is a low budget Creative Commons technology based on Papers published on the Web for researchers on Embodiment.

CURRENT INVESTIGATIONThe project has shown endless possibilities and the next steps of the investigation would be to measure EMPATHY generated among users. We are also very interested in collaborating with: psychology investigators dedicated to Mentalization-based treatment (MBT); Human scientists working on Conflict Resolution and Social Relations; and also neuroscientists, working on rehabilitation and body perception. We currently hold a research fellowship at MIT.17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wk489deqAQ

GENDER SWAPPING

The user is part of the environment, not looking at it, or interacting with it from the outside.How do the everyday attitudes, beliefs and behaviours carry over to a virtual environment?How can VR be used as a basic research tool to study the nuances of face-to-face interaction?

IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS (IVE)

A new therapy which involves a patient embodying themselves in a virtual reality avatar of a crying child could help with depression, research has suggested.

Empathy is defined by psychology and neuroscience as the ability of one individual to feel another individuals emotional state while preserving the knowledge about its personal origin

We are examining effects of this immersive virtual environment (IVE) on changes in acute physiological functioning (e.g. heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure) and psychological processes, including empathy/social perspective taking, racial bias and decision making.

Through the capabilities of the technology, learners can see their appearance and behaviors reflected in a virtual mirror as someone who is different, and perceptually experience a scenario from the perspective of any party in a social interaction.

This project is collecting data from a large, demographically diverse sampleapproximately 1000 participantsto test a wide range of empathy scenarios varying in domain (e.g., prejudice, bullying, classroom learning, etc.), and in motivational factors that encourage empathy (e.g., immersiveness of the simulation, emotional valence of treatment, strength of group affiliation). If20

VR FOR PARANOIAOxford University treats persecutory delusions 8/15 success

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLsKEBikgE8

Persecutory delusions unfounded, strongly held beliefs that other people intend to harm us have traditionally been regarded as a key symptom of psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia.

Understandably, it can be very difficult for patients with severe paranoia to face feared situations. But its easier with VR. Knowing that the scenario isnt real helps with confidence, and its simple for us to present the least difficult situations first. VR offers other practical advantages. The fact that patients can try the same situation as many times as they like, and be instantly transported from one challenging situation (a shop) to another (a train), means that progress may well be much faster than it would be if they were facing real-life scenarios. Moreover, patients in psychiatric wards often have very limited access to real-world situations.

From just 30mins in VR, half the patients no longer had severe paranoia. Immediately after the VR therapy session, eight of the 15 patients who had VRCT no longer had persecutory delusions

Importantly, we saw real-world benefits too, with the VRCT group showing a drop by half in their self-reported distress in their second trip into a feared situation compared to the VRET group.21

Jonathan Swiss/American is a hands-on innovation specialist with a passion for tackling underserved problems with unexplored technologies.After being diagnosed with ADHD, or Attention Deficit Disorder, at the age of 18, Jonathan began to realise that many people around him had trouble understanding not just his condition but also those of other people suffering from mental disorders. Ever-curious about the possibilities of new media media forms such as virtual reality, he started the Difficult People Project to raise awareness about these disorders among the public.

Emilys greatest fear is to be arrested for a crime she committed. At stores or at restaurants, she is in a constant state of suspicion of her surroundings and the people she encounters. The surprising thing is that Emily isnt a criminal; she never has nor is likely to commit a crime in her life. So why is she so worried?

Mentaldisordersareastubbornproblem, infact, over oneinfive people will suffer fromamentalconditionatleastonceintheirlives. But just because an illness is common does not mean it is well understood by the public. We hope todispel the common misconceptions on this topic using Virtual Reality technology as a means to bridge theexisting empathy gap through immersive storytelling.22

Jonathan Swiss/American is a hands-on innovation specialist with a passion for tackling underserved problems with unexplored technologies.After being diagnosed with ADHD, or Attention Deficit Disorder, at the age of 18, Jonathan began to realise that many people around him had trouble understanding not just his condition but also those of other people suffering from mental disorders. Ever-curious about the possibilities of new media media forms such as virtual reality, he started the Difficult People Project to raise awareness about these disorders among the public.

Emilys greatest fear is to be arrested for a crime she committed. At stores or at restaurants, she is in a constant state of suspicion of her surroundings and the people she encounters. The surprising thing is that Emily isnt a criminal; she never has nor is likely to commit a crime in her life. So why is she so worried?

Mentaldisordersareastubbornproblem, infact, over oneinfive people will suffer fromamentalconditionatleastonceintheirlives. But just because an illness is common does not mean it is well understood by the public. We hope todispel the common misconceptions on this topic using Virtual Reality technology as a means to bridge theexisting empathy gap through immersive storytelling.23

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E_Ndt9kssg

when they were asked about the experience a week later, about half of them said they remembered it as if it actually happened in the physical world.

How does an application to treat addictions work?- The functioning of these applications is similar to that used for anxiety disorders. Patients are exposed to and must confront situations and contexts related to the use of the substance, a virtual bar for example. Within this contexts, the psychologist applies the treatment techniques they consider most suitable, such as relaxation techniques, cognitive restructuring, assertiveness and other social abilities, etc.

What we need to realize is that its not just tech for techs sake, but that technology has the power to elevate our reality and push the limits of our own humanity, opening new opportunities for our imagination. Technology turns thought into reality, and establishes creativity as the basis for connection.24

How does an application to treat addictions work?- The functioning of these applications is similar to that used for anxiety disorders. Patients are exposed to and must confront situations and contexts related to the use of the substance, a virtual bar for example. Within this contexts, the psychologist applies the treatment techniques they consider most suitable, such as relaxation techniques, cognitive restructuring, assertiveness and other social abilities, etc.

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The social importance of empathy has been raised in fields of knowledge related to psychology, neuroscience [11] as well as in education, bullying and conflict resolution [12]. This is evidenced in European cities dealing with the coexistence of groups with different cultural identities [13], catalyzed by the recent refugee diaspora crisis. These abilities are fundamental to foster a culture of tolerance, as without empathy, we cant get to conflict resolution, altruism, or peace [12]. Beyond any boundaries or ideologies, empathic concern can lead to altruism, and therefore to promote a better society in which individuals would care more about each other, no matter their differences.

Embodied Virtual Reality (EVR) to stimulate prosocial behavior and overcome intergroup social barriers.26