Blog
Are Virtual Reality team shooters actually useful for VR team building?
On our travels around the world, we have tried many public virtual reality (VR) experiences and a large number of these use the team shooter format. On initial inspection this would seem a natural choice for group teamwork. Research (Ballestin et al, 2020) suggests that the mix of immersive [...]
COOL! VR and the Gate Control Theory of Pain
Most people feel pain on a regular basis. We’ve all stubbed our toe or hit our head on a cupboard door. Our first instinct is to rub the area that’s in pain, this is because when we rub a painful area, the pain reduces. This is the underlying concept of [...]
VR Training Vs E-Learning, will VR replace it?
Introduction In the past ten years the popularity using of E-learning for education and training purposes has grown exponentially, and with the addition of the pandemic and lockdowns this popularity has only pushed up higher (OECD, 2020). Now, there is a new tool being utilised known as virtual reality (or [...]
Applications of the Proteus Effect For Empathy and Creativity
The Proteus effect is a phenomenon in which an individual’s behaviour changes based on their digital self-representations (Yee & Bailenson, 2007). While the Proteus effect can have an impact on players of World of Warcraft (Stavropoulos et al., 2020), a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, its effect is far greater [...]
Virtual Reality: Are we in danger of giving away too much?
The results of a recent study carried out by psychologists at Stanford University (Miller, Herrera, Jun, Landay, & Bailenson, 2020) no doubt raised eyebrows amongst members of the Virtual Reality community. Using data collected from just five minutes of VR exposure, a machine learning algorithm was able to identify individuals [...]
Virtual Reality and The Proteus Effect – Subconscious Behaviour change
The Proteus Effect is one of the most interesting theories to come out of cyber-psychological research in recent years, with its relevance becoming more apparent as we transition into an era where virtual worlds continue to grow in importance. The theory itself derives its name from the mythical Greek God [...]
VR and Medical Training – Leading the Way for VR Training Applications?
Virtual reality simulations have been used in several areas, ranging from military training, gaming, to medicine training and rehabilitation. Research has suggested that VR can be useful for cognitive rehabilitation for stroke patients (De Luca et al., 2019), improving reaction times in children with cerebral palsy (Pourazar, Mirakhori, Hemayattalab, & [...]
Team Development Using VR – Efficiency, Trust and Synchronous Working
Virtual teams have been defined as teams that rarely meet face to face and mainly communicate via email, or chat. These types of teams usually follow an asynchronously type of work, and have defining characteristics, such as a distribution of members across time, geography or both (Corbitt, Gardiner & Wright, [...]
VR and Memory
Introduction With virtual reality technology becoming more accessible for people, research has started to demonstrate the impact that VR can have in the learning sector. Amongst the benefits of VR, research has suggested it can enhance learning for middle, and high schoolers, as it improves the engagement that young people [...]
VR Team Building And The Ringelmann Effect
The Ringelmann Effect, also known as social loafing, was named after Maximilien Ringelmann, a French agricultural engineer born in the 1860’s (Kravitz & Martin, 1986). When examining the efficiency of groups at completing basic agricultural tasks, Ringelmann noted that as group size increased, the performance per individual decreased (Kravitz & [...]
Leveraging VR Technology for Developing Your Human Resources Strategy
In these challenging times we are facing today, it is evident that HR has to adapt to make sure they are still offering services to their employees. To keep up their strategies they need to accommodate everyone’s need to learn and develop remotely. A new technology that has great potential [...]
Can VR Make us Less Inhibited in the Virtual Space?
To say technology has enveloped our everyday life is not a shocking statement, advancements have led to a ubiquity of connectivity and given the affordances granted to us by technology, it is again no surprise that some interesting phenomena has arisen as a direct consequence of this. Very usually [...]