A new study by experts from the Stanford School of Humanities and Science proves that the transferred experience of augmented reality (AR) significantly changes a person's behavior in the real world, even after he stops using an AR headset. To clarify this fact, a group of scientists led by Professor Jeremy Bilenson helped three experiments with the participation of 218 volunteers. The results of the research of specialists were published by the journal PLOS ONE. A press release for the study was posted on the Stanford University website.
In the first experiment, the participants were shown a realistic 3D model of a person named Chris sitting on a chair in a room (the picture was created using augmented reality technology, that is, by overlaying a virtual image layer on an image of the real physical world). The volunteers were asked to complete an anagram task while Chris watched them. Scientists found that people, as in the case of the presence of a real person nearby, literally felt the presence of Chris, which in turn affected the speed of drawing up anagrams. The participants noted that the presence of a person in augmented reality, who followed them, made the solution of the problem more difficult.
In the second experiment, the scientists decided to test whether the participants could sit on the chair where Chris had previously sat. It turned out that despite the absence of a virtual person in the chair, none of the participants who were using an AR headset at that moment decided to sit on this chair. Even when people took off their headsets, 72 percent of them did not dare to take Chris's chair and sat on the next one.
In the latest experiment, scientists paired people with and without an AR headset. Communication took place between them, after which people with headsets noted that they felt less connected with their interlocutor.
Nikolay Khizhnyak
Promotional video: