Posts Tagged ‘virtual reality’
Bonding with avatar can shift perception
PENN STATE / U. MICHIGAN (US) — People who customized an avatar and saw it wearing a backpack overestimated the heights of virtual hills, just as people in real life tend to overestimate heights and distances while carrying extra weight. Continue…
Thursday, May 2, 2013 12:26 - 2 Comments
Society & Culture - Feb 1, 2013 11:47 - 0 Comments
Virtual superpowers prompt real kindness
STANFORD (US) — Given virtual superpowers, people respond with more altruism in the real world, a new experiment shows. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Nov 15, 2012 13:45 - 0 Comments
After injury, virtual reality tests real-world skills
U. TORONTO (CAN) — A new virtual reality test shows promise in predicting if a cognitive impairment will keep a person from functioning in the real world. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Nov 8, 2012 11:12 - 0 Comments
Buff avatars may help us get healthy
U. MISSOURI (US) — Having a fit and healthy virtual avatar may encourage people to improve their own health and appearance, according to a recent study. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Mar 19, 2012 13:28 - 1 Comment
Brain’s quick memories drive our choices
PRINCETON (US) — Researchers have used a virtual reality and brain imaging system to study how the brain forms short-term memories for decision-making. (more…)
Society & Culture - Dec 6, 2011 14:34 - 6 Comments
Would you kill 1 person to save 5 others?
MICHIGAN STATE (US) —A new study suggests a vast majority of people are willing to violate a moral rule if it means minimizing harm, in this case letting one person die to save five others. (more…)
Science & Technology - Apr 12, 2011 15:02 - 2 Comments
How virtual acts change attitudes
STANFORD (US) — A virtual reality environment can literally change behavior in the real world, according to a new study. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jul 1, 2010 12:41 - 0 Comments
Virtual reality software packs real savings
U. LEEDS (US)—Virtual reality software that plans the safe decommissioning of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities could save millions of pounds, according to its inventors. (more…)
Society & Culture - May 14, 2010 17:15 - 0 Comments
Virtual appearance matters to men
INDIANA U. (US)—In a recent study, men’s decisions were strongly affected by certain appearance aspects of computer-generated women, such as jerky movements, while women’s decisions were not. (more…)
Science & Technology - Mar 24, 2010 12:04 - 1 Comment
Driving game maps brain’s version of GPS
U. PENN (US)—Using implantable electrodes and a first-person driving game, researchers have identified the brain cells that indicate travel in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion, called “path cells.” (more…)
Society & Culture - Mar 15, 2010 10:02 - 0 Comments
Can lookalike avatars help us shape up?
STANFORD (US)—If you saw a digital image of yourself running on a virtual treadmill, would you feel like going to the gym? Probably so, according to a study showing that personalized avatars can motivate people to exercise and eat right. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 17, 2009 15:57 - 3 Comments
Real-time action in a virtual world
U. ILLINOIS (US)—A new digital system allows people in different locations to interact in real time in a shared virtual space. (more…)
Society & Culture - Dec 4, 2009 17:22 - 2 Comments
Pedestrians: Ditch the phone, keep the iPod
U. ILLINOIS (US)—How apropos that a research team led by two native New Yorkers would take a fresh look at the dangers of trying to cross a busy street while talking on a cell phone or listening to music on an iPod. (more…)
Society & Culture - Dec 1, 2009 16:57 - 5 Comments
Facebook profiles reveal true self
TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—Online social networks such as Facebook are being used to express and communicate real personality, instead of an idealized virtual identity, according to new research from psychologist Sam Gosling. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Nov 16, 2009 12:38 - 3 Comments
Doctors take 3-D tour before surgery
IOWA STATE (US)—James Oliver picked up an Xbox game controller, looked up to a video screen, and zipped through a patient’s chest cavity for an up-close look at the bottom of the heart. Oliver was using new software that allows doctors to take an accurate, 3-D tour of a patient’s anatomy in advance of surgery. (more…)
Society & Culture - Nov 13, 2009 14:44 - 6 Comments
Avatars behaving badly
TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—Digital personas, known as avatars, can affect the way people think and feel when interacting in a virtual environment, new research shows. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 11, 2009 15:39 - 0 Comments
Virtual crashes sound like the real thing
CORNELL (US)—When you kick over a garbage can, it doesn’t make a pure, musical tone. That’s why the sound is so hard to synthesize. Now computer scientists have developed a practical method to generate the crashing and rumbling sounds of objects made up of thin “harmonic shells.” (more…)
Society & Culture - Oct 15, 2009 16:59 - 0 Comments
Giving away privacy by sharing online?
DUKE (US)—Millions of Internet users have been enjoying the fun—and free—services provided by advertiser-supported online social networks like Facebook. But are those users risking their privacy? (more…)
Society & Culture - Aug 14, 2009 10:59 - 2 Comments
Virtual economies mirror the real deal
USC (US)—Economic volatility is a fact of life, even in cyberspace. A new study finds online role-playing games in many ways mirror the real world and could provide a testing ground for policy theories. (more…)
