Learning Empathy Through Virtual Reality: Multiple Strategies for Training Empathy-Related Abilities Using Body Ownership Illusions in Embodied Virtual Reality

Bertrand, Philippe; Guegan, Jérôme; Robieux, Léonore; McCall, Cade; Zenasni, Franck

doi:10.3389/frobt.2018.00026

Cited by 176 publications

(116 citation statements)

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“…For that discussion see https://virtualrealitypop.com/measuring-empathy-in-virtualreality-678dd02eac61 (accessed January 11, 2020). (Bertrand et al, 2018;Schoeller et al, 2019). By "share" we do not mean experiencing exactly the same feeling, but having at least an "image" or a "sensuous representation" of what the other person is feeling (Persson and Savulescu, 2018, p. 186).…”

Section: Virtual Reality As An "Empathy Machine"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Reality and Empathy Enhancement: Ethical Aspects

Rueda

Lara

2020

Front. Robot. AI

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The history of humankind is full of examples that indicate a constant desire to make human beings more moral. Nowadays, technological breakthroughs might have a significant impact on our moral character and abilities. This is the case of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. The aim of this paper is to consider the ethical aspects of the use of VR in enhancing empathy. First, we will offer an introduction to VR, explaining its fundamental features, devices and concepts. Then, we will approach the characterization of VR as an “empathy machine,” showing why this medium has aroused so much interest and why, nevertheless, we do not believe it is the ideal way to enhance empathy. As an alternative, we will consider fostering empathy-related abilities through virtual embodiment in avatars. In the conclusion, however, we will examine some of the serious concerns related to the ethical relevance of empathy and will defend the philosophical case for a reason-guided empathy, also suggesting specific guidelines for possible future developments of empathy enhancement projects through VR embodied experiences.

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Section: Virtual Reality As An "Empathy Machine"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Reality and Empathy Enhancement: Ethical Aspects

Rueda

Lara

2020

Front. Robot. AI

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“…. the body ownership illusion" referring to one's avatar on screen (Bertrand et al, 2018). If this broad, human-to-avatar-body-swap definition of embodiment takes hold, then perhaps gesture would be considered a sub-type of VR embodiment.…”

Section: Embodimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immersive VR and Education: Embodied Design Principles That Include Gesture and Hand Controls

2018

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This article explores relevant applications of educational theory for the design of immersive virtual reality (VR). Two unique attributes associated with VR position the technology to positively affect education: (1) the sense of presence, and (2) the embodied affordances of gesture and manipulation in the 3rd dimension. These are referred to as the two profound affordances of VR. The primary focus of this article is on the embodiment afforded by gesture in 3D for learning. The new generation of hand controllers induces embodiment and agency via meaningful and congruent movements with the content to be learned. Several examples of gesture-rich lessons are presented. The final section includes an extensive set of design principles for immersive VR in education, and finishes with the Necessary Nine which are hypothesized to optimize the pedagogy within a lesson.Keywords: immersive virtual reality, embodiment, gesture, stem education, mixed reality, VR, educational design, XR "Movement, or physical activity, is thus an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement we come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that we eventually acquire even abstract ideas." (Montessori, 1966) THE TWO PROFOUND AFFORDANCESIn the early 1930's, Dr. Montessori understood that learning relied on how our physical bodies interacted with the environment. For her, the environment was physical. Today, we are able to digitize our environments and the affordances approach infinity. For several decades, the primary interface in educational technology has been the mouse and keyboard; however, those are not highly embodied interface tools (Johnson-Glenberg et al., 2014a). Embodied, for the purposes of education, means that the learner has initiated a physical gesture or movement that is wellmapped to the content to be learned. As an example, imagine a lesson on gears and mechanical advantage. If the student is tapping the s on the keyboard to make the gear spin that would be considered less embodied than spinning a fingertip on a screen to manipulate a gear with a synchronized velocity. With the advent of more natural user interfaces (NUI), the entire feel of digitized educational content is poised to change. Highly immersive virtual environments that can be manipulated with hand controls will affect how content is encoded and retained. One of the tenets of the author's Embodied Games lab is that doing actual physical gestures in a virtual environment should have positive, and lasting, effects on learning in the real world.

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“…Yet, the study of self-location should benefit from VR. First, VR allows interacting with avatars in realistic, ecological, and controlled environments [29][30][31][32] . Second, VR is characterized by presence, the feeling of being "there", even when a virtual character is not shown in the VR environment, modifying the perceived self-location 30,33 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Measuring perceived self-location in virtual reality

Nakul

Orlando-Dessaints

Lenggenhager

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Third-person perspective full-body illusions (3PP-FBI) enable the manipulation, through multisensory stimulation, of perceived self-location. Perceived self-location is classically measured by a locomotion task. Yet, as locomotion modulates various sensory signals, we developed in immersive virtual reality a measure of self-location without locomotion. Tactile stimulation was applied on the back of twentyfive participants and displayed synchronously or asynchronously on an avatar's back seen from behind. Participants completed the locomotion task and a novel mental imagery task, in which they self-located in relation to a virtual ball approaching them. Participants self-identified with the avatar more during synchronous than asynchronous visuo-tactile stimulation in both tasks. This was accentuated for the mental imagery task, showing a larger self-relocation toward the avatar, together with higher reports of presence, bi-location and disembodiment in the synchronous condition only for the mental imagery task. In conclusion, the results suggest that avoiding multisensory updating during walking, and using a perceptual rather than a motor task, can improve measures of illusory self-location. open Scientific RepoRtS | (2020) 10:6802 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63643-y www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ An often-reported limitation of the LT is that locomotion updates somatosensory, vestibular and interoceptive signals. Measures of self-location based on perceptual judgements rather than action-based judgements could minimize self-motion, reduce confounding sensory stimulation, and maintain illusory self-location. There is evidence to suggest that action-based judgments are less sensitive to visual illusions, as they rely on different neural pathways, than more perceptual judgments 37-39 . To measure self-location in non-moving participants, a "mental ball dropping task" has been used during 3PP-FBIs using video presentations of a human body 16,17,19 . Participants tested lying supine held a ball and had to indicate, with button presses, when they imagined dropping the ball and when the ball would hit the ground. After synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation, participants' evaluation of the time needed for the ball to reach the ground increased or decreased with regard to their illusion of being located above or below their body. Similar results were reported for a mental ball dropping task in VR 40 . However, the mental ball dropping task needs to be adapted to a more ecological 3PP-FBI in which participants are tested standing upright. Body positioning is important as lying supine modifies corporeal and extracorporeal space perception 41 . To our knowledge, there is still a lack of a measure of self-location which does not require changes in perceived self-location with respect to gravity, but rather with respect to the more ecological front-back or left-right axes. Second, participants exposed to VR are thought to distribute their self between the real and VR environments 33...

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Learning Empathy Through Virtual Reality: Multiple Strategies for Training Empathy-Related Abilities Using Body Ownership Illusions in Embodied Virtual Reality

Cited by 176 publications

References 184 publications

Virtual Reality and Empathy Enhancement: Ethical Aspects

Virtual Reality and Empathy Enhancement: Ethical Aspects

Immersive VR and Education: Embodied Design Principles That Include Gesture and Hand Controls

Measuring perceived self-location in virtual reality

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