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Virtual Human Interaction Lab

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Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab
Established2003
Field of research
Virtual Reality
DirectorJeremy Bailenson
AddressMcClatchy Hall, Building 120
450 Serra Mall
Stanford, CA 94309
USA
LocationStanford, CA USA
NicknameVHIL
Operating agency
Stanford University
WebsiteOfficial Website

The Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) at Stanford University was founded in 2003 by Professor Jeremy Bailenson, associate professor of communication at Stanford University. The lab conducts research for the Communication Department.

Faculty and research staff

  • Jeremy Bailenson, professor of communication, VHIL Founder
  • Shawnee Baughman, Lab Manager, B.S. and M.S. in communication at Stanford University

VR projects

  • The Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience (2016) - (SOAE) had it's world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016 (then-called The Crystal Reef: Interactive) in conjunction with the 360 video. SOAE is an immersive VR experience, which allows users to become a scientist and interact with their environment. SOAE has been exhibited at the U.S. Senate and the Palau National Congress.[2]
  • Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience (2017) - had it's world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017. It was originally developed for the Lab's Empathy At Scale research project.[3]
  • Coral Compass: Fighting Climate Change in Palau (2018) - world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018. In this 360 experience, viewers travel to Palau. The piece focuses on how the leaders of Palau is working with scientists to adapt to climate change.[4]

Current research

Digital anonymity

The group is studying how digital media users who anonymize themselves via their avatars may be perceived differently from media users who use avatars that resemble their physical world selves.

Mediators and mimicry

A mediator's success hinges on two important factors: impartiality and rapport. Ironically, the process of establishing rapport can undermine the mediator's ability to convey a sense of impartiality. Thus, mediators face a dilemma – a dilemma that we believe digital media might be able to help solve. We are how exploring the affordances of online dispute resolution (ODR) may help mediators strike a delicate balance between developing rapport and maintaining impartiality. One area that is of particular interest to us is digital mimicry. Mimicry is known to elicit a wide variety of favorable responses; using tracking technology and computer algorithms we can make virtual mediators subtly yet perfectly mimic disputants' head movements.

Out-of-body experience

What if the virtual self could "feel" in a virtual world the same way the physical self can feel in the physical world? Navigating virtual 3D environments, performing remote surgery, and tanning on a virtual island would become second-nature at this level of full immersion. We are studying ways to create and measure this phenomenon, known as self-presence, or an out-of-body experience. Current questions we are asking in this research area include what stimuli are necessary to induce digital body ownership and what modifications of avatars and virtual environments increase self-presence.

Augmented perspective taking

Perspective taking is the ability to mentally put oneself in the shoes of another to imagine what the other person might be thinking and feeling in a certain situation. Immersive virtual environments allow people to vividly share the perceptual experiences of others as if they are in the heat of the moment. In essence, our abilities to take the perspective of another person can be augmented by viscerally sharing their experiences - seeing, hearing, and feeling what the other person did in a particular situation. We can now literally climb into the skin of the other person to fully embody their body and senses. Current projects explore how novel affordances of interactive digital media such as immersion and interactivity can enhance the ability to understand other minds and how the virtual experience can influence our attitudes and behaviors.

Self-endorsing

Self-endorsing is a novel persuasion strategy made possible by the advancement of interactive digital media. The self is no longer just a passive receiver of information, but can simultaneously partake in the formation and dispersion of persuasive messages, persuading the self with the self. What may have sounded like a topic of a futuristic science fiction movie can now be easily and rapidly done using simple graphics software. Tapping into the framework of self-referencing, research on self-endorsing explores how using the self as the source of persuasive messages can powerfully influence attitudes and behaviors in various persuasive contexts.

Automatic facial feature detection and analyses

While most prior research on facial expressions involve some form of manual coding by human coders based on established facial coding systems (e.g., FACS), this methodology uses just a small webcam and computer software to predict an individual's errors and performance quality based only on facial features that are tracked and logged automatically. Using just the first five to seven minutes of facial feature data, researchers were able to predict a participant's performance on a 30-minute experimental task with up to 90% accuracy. There are countless applications for this methodology that would facilitate research of other media effects. For instance, this methodology can predict purchasing decisions based on facial expressions (e.g., "buying" face vs. "not-buying" face) while participants engage in an online shopping task. Researchers can also monitor emotional fluctuations in real time as people make their selection of media content and verify whether or not the choices are contributing toward maintaining a good mood (i.e., mood management theory; Zillmann) based on their facial expressions. In addition, advertisers could benefit by receiving real-time data on the participant's responses to advertisements. Automatic facial feature analysis is not yet a perfect 'looking glass' to a person's mind, but its advantages are obvious and promising.

Past research

The lab has studied topics such as:

  • Proteus effect
  • Transformed social interaction
  • Facial Identity Capture and Presidential Candidate Preference - it was found that by morphing a subject's face in a 40:60 ratio with that of John Kerry and George W. Bush, the subject was more likely to prefer the candidate that shared their features. This study has implications concerning the use of a voter's image and overall face morphing during national elections to sway a voter's decision.
  • Virtual aging's affect on financial decisions
  • Eye witness testimony and virtual police lineups - In collaboration with the Research Center for Virtual Environments and Behavior, the National Science Foundation, and the Federal Judicial Center, VHIL examined the capabilities of pointing out witnesses during a police lineup while in a virtual environment.
  • Diversity simulation - allowing participants to experience another race or gender

References

[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

  1. ^ https://vhil.stanford.edu/the-crystal-reef/
  2. ^ https://vhil.stanford.edu/soae/
  3. ^ http://vhil.stanford.edu/becominghomeless/
  4. ^ http://vhil.stanford.edu/coralcompass/
  5. ^ Fox, J. & Bailenson, J.N. (2010). The use of doppelgängers to promote health behavior change. CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation, 3 (2), 16-17.
  6. ^ Leonetti, C., & Bailenson, J.N. (2010). High-Tech view: The use of immersive virtual environments in jury trials. 93 (3) Marquette Law Review, 1073.
  7. ^ Bailenson, J.N. & Segovia, K.Y. (2010). Virtual doppelgangers: Psychological effects of avatars who ignore their owners. In W. S. Bainbridge (Ed.), Online worlds: Convergence of the real and the virtual (175-186). Springer: New York.
  8. ^ Segovia, K.Y. & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). Virtually true: Children's acquisition of false memories in virtual reality. Media Psychology, 12, 371-393.
  9. ^ Fox, J., Bailenson, J.N., & Binney, J. (2009). Virtual experiences, physical behaviors: The effect of presence on imitation of an eating avatar. PRESENCE: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 18(4), 294-303.
  10. ^ Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., & Ducheneaut, N. (2009). The Proteus Effect: Implications of transformed digital self-representation on online and offline behavior. Communication Research, 36 (2), 285-312.
  11. ^ Fox, J., & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). Virtual virgins and vamps: The effects of exposure to female characters' sexualized appearance and gaze in an immersive virtual environment. Sex Roles, 61 (3-4), 147-157.
  12. ^ Groom, V., Bailenson, J.N., & Nass, C. (2009). The influence of racial embodiment on racial bias in immersive virtual environments. Social Influence, 4(1), 1-18.
  13. ^ Bailenson, J.N., Iyengar, S., Yee, N., & Collins, N. (2008). Facial similarity between voters and candidates causes influence. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72 (5), 935-961.
  14. ^ Ersner-Hershfield, H., Bailenson, J., & Carstensen, L.L. (2008). Feeling more connected to your future self: Using immersive virtual reality to increase retirement saving. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, Chicago, IL.
  15. ^ Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N. (2008). A method for longitudinal behavioral data collection in Second Life, PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. 17(6), 594-596.
  16. ^ Bailenson, J.N., Davies, A., Beall. A.C., Blascovich, J., Guadagno, R.E., & McCall, C. (2008). The effects of witness viewpoint distance, angle, and choice on eyewitness accuracy in police lineups conducted in immersive virtual environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 17(3), 242-255.
  17. ^ Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., Urbanek, M., Chang, F., & Merget, D. (2007). The unbearable likeness of being digital; The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 10, 115-121.
  18. ^ Bailenson, J.N. (2006). Transformed social interaction in collaborative virtual environments. In Messaris, P. and Humphreys, L. (Ed.) Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication. 255-264. New York: Peter Lang.
  19. ^ Yee, N., & Bailenson, J.N. (2006). Walk a mile in digital shoes: The impact of embodied perspective-taking on the reduction of negative stereotyping in immersive virtual environments. Proceedings of PRESENCE 2006: The 9th Annual International Workshop on Presence. August 24 – 26, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
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