Virtual Human Interaction Lab

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

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, California, United States
NicknameVHIL
Operating agency
Stanford University
WebsiteOfficial Website

History

Its founding director was Stanford professor Jeremy Bailenson.[1] As of April 2014, it had an advanced virtual reality lab and setup,[2] which was used to teach visitors and students on various topics.[3] The company's VR software is "free to any interested organization."[4] According to the Los Angeles Times, it is at the "forefront" of the [virtual reality content] movement" in 2015, at which point Jeremy Bailenson remained the head of the organization.[5]

VR projects
  • The Crystal Reef (2016) - Premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. It was later featured by TIME. It is a 360-degree video VR experience about ocean acidification.[6][7]
  • The Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience (2016) - Also called SOAE, the "experience" premiered at the Tribeca 2016 Film Festival (then-called The Crystal Reef: Interactive) in conjunction with the 360 video. SOAE allows users to become a scientist and interact with their environment. SOAE has been exhibited at the US Senate and the Palau National Congress.[8]
  • Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience (2017) - Premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival,[9] it was originally developed for the lab's "Empathy At Scale" research project.[10]
  • Coral Compass: Fighting Climate Change in Palau (2018) - world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018. Viewers travel to Palau, looking at how the country is working with scientists to adapt to climate change.[11]

Research

Current
  • Digital anonymity - in 2010, the group was 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.[12]
  • Mediators and mimicry - researching how online dispute resolution (ODR) may help mediators strike a delicate balance between developing rapport and maintaining impartiality.
  • Out-of-body experience - studies self-presence, or an out-of-body experience.
  • Augmented perspective taking - researching how immersion and interactivity can enhance the ability to understand other minds and how the virtual experience can influence our attitudes and behaviors.
  • Self-endorsing - researches how using the self as the source of persuasive messages can influence attitudes and behaviors in various persuasive contexts.
  • Automatic facial feature detection and analyses - 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.

Former topics

The lab has studied topics such as:

  • Proteus effect
  • Transformed social interaction
  • Facial Identity Capture[13] 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 effect on financial decisions[14]
  • 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

[15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]

  1. Everett Cook, December 22, 2017 Now used far beyond Stanford, virtual reality keeps growing at the Farm, San Francisco Chronicle
  2. Farhad Manjoo, April 2, 2014 If You Like Immersion, You’ll Love This Reality, The New York Times
  3. Joe Rosato Jr., December 20, 2018 Stanford Takes Students on Virtual Undersea Journey, NBC
  4. Marco della Cava, April 8, 2016 Virtual reality tested by NFL as tool to confront racism, sexism, USA Today
  5. Steven Zeitchik, April 24, 2015 Title, Los Angeles Times
  6. Stanford University The Crystal Reef, Stanford
  7. Rob Jordan of Stanford University, November 30, 2018 Virtual reality could serve as powerful environmental education tool, Phys.org
  8. https://vhil.stanford.edu/soae/
  9. http://vhil.stanford.edu/becominghomeless/
  10. Rachael Myrow, June 27, 2016 Stanford's Virtual Reality Lab Cultivates Empathy for the Homeless, KQED
  11. http://vhil.stanford.edu/coralcompass/
  12. Avatar Behavior Study
  13. Identity Capture
  14. Virtual Reality Encourages Subject to Save for the Future
  15. Fox, J. & Bailenson, J.N. (2010). The use of doppelgängers to promote health behavior change. CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation, 3 (2), 16-17.
  16. Leonetti, C., & Bailenson, J.N. (2010). High-Tech view: The use of immersive virtual environments in jury trials. 93 (3) Marquette Law Review, 1073.
  17. 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.
  18. Segovia, K.Y. & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). Virtually true: Children's acquisition of false memories in virtual reality. Media Psychology, 12, 371-393.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.
  27. 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.
  28. 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.
  29. 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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