Grown men swap bodies with virtual girl

[ismnotwasm]

"Virtual reality can get downright unreal. In this simulated realm, grown men given a new perspective on the world suddenly find themselves convinced that they inhabit the body of a young girl.

Guys who spend time looking at a simulated world through a life-size virtual girl’s eyes feel as if they reside in her body when they then view her from a third-person perspective, say cognitive scientist Mel Slater of University of Barcelona and his colleagues."


Ok, right? Not so bad, kind of interesting, I suppose they're looking for the biggest variance of experience or something. Then this from a different study;


"The virtual girl moved her head either in or out of time with volunteers’ own head movements. Men in both groups also felt shoulder strokes delivered in or out of sync with the virtual woman’s stroking of the girl’s shoulder.

Participants’ virtual viewpoints were then lifted up toward the ceiling so the men looked down on the girl from a third-person perspective. The woman continued to stroke the girl’s shoulder, but the men felt no shoulder strokes.

Suddenly, the woman slapped the girl’s face three times.

Men who had previously taken the virtual girl’s visual perspective while receiving synchronized shoulder strokes reported having had strong feelings of being inside her skin when the slaps were delivered."



The whole thing creeped me out.



http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/59143/title/Grown_men_swap_bodies_with_virtual_girl

On edit, or second thoughts, I wonder if this would have any application for therapy for violent abusers?

[seabeyond]

1. i am always weary of.....

"It’s especially compelling that such relatively simple manipulations can profoundly alter our sense of reality,”

hm

[bliss_eternal]

2. sounds kinda creepy...

...to me at least. :scared: i'm becoming concerned that the world is making it easier (instead of more difficult) for pedophiles to stimulate their illness. what other purpose would something like this serve?

little o/t but kinda' related:

i recall a clip that went viral of someone's toddler dancing to a pop artist's song. it was on msn's front page, youtube, even made my local news broadcast, etc. while i could see the amusement factor, (how cute, etc.) i grew concerned as i saw hundreds of other parents posting clips of their infants and toddlers on-line (i.e. bouncing, dancing, posing, etc to popular music). does anyone think about all the sickos out there trolling the net for videos/photos of infants and toddlers? for their sexual fantasies?