We ran an online lunch session this week exploring the rise and application of virtual reality (VR) within the world of work – if you missed it you can catch up here. It was Einstein that said that reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. And VR offers up new ways to change our reality.
Tim Fleming. VR expert from Future Visual, explained that VR is most often used to simulate experiences that are either prohibitively expensive, difficult or impossible. There are already some great examples of VR being used at work to improve employee experience. For example, the MoJ uses VR to enable prison service recruits to experience the prison environment – that way they can get decide if it’s right for them before they get too far along the recruitment process. And there are some really cool examples of companies using VR to run team builds, collaborate on proposed office designs, and experience front-line customer facing scenarios.
But, it’s when we explore the neuroscience of VR that things get really interesting and we can see the potential for VR beyond the obvious applications. Researchers from the University of Barcelona wanted to find out if the virtual experience of being a different person (called embodiment) impacted behaviours. They decided to ask volunteers to become Einstein via the power of VR, to see if becoming Einstein would actually make them smarter. And the short answer was yes, the volunteers saw improvements on cognitive tests when they were Einstein. In addition, they also demonstrated less bias towards older people.
It seems using VR for embodiment can fool our brains into behaving in ways associated with a new identity. Another example was where volunteers ‘became’ children within VR and were observed to display much greater child like behaviours.
The research is still in its infancy, but it seems that VR has serious potential for facilitating empathy, which is critical for designing a compelling EX. Within the world of diversity and inclusion unconscious bias training has been heavily criticised and it’s validity questioned. Imagine a not too distant future where any such D&I training involves VR, enabling us to embody people different to us. This idea is not new: the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, in which volunteers where assigned to the role of prison officer or prisoner, had to be cut short due to zeal with which the roles were taken on. The environment itself was enough to facilitate behaviours associated with the roles volunteers were given. With the rise in affordability and accessibility of VR, the technology is simply facilitating our ability to empathise even further.
VR offers a range of applications for EX design and development, from function to creativity through to empathy and more. If you have any experiences of using VR we’d love to hear from you, and don’t forget you can catch up on the VR webinar here.
