Summary: Using a virtual reality simulation to ‘become’ Albert Einstein helps to enhance cognitive performance in those with low self esteem, a new study reports.

Source: Frontiers.

The perception of having Albert Einstein’s body may help unlock previously inaccessible mental resources, finds a new study. Following a virtual reality “Einstein” experience, participants were less likely to unconsciously stereotype older people while those with low self-esteem scored better on cognitive tests. Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the study suggests the way our brain perceives our body is surprisingly flexible. The researchers hope the technique will be useful for education.

“Virtual reality can create the illusion of a virtual body to substitute your own, which is called virtual embodiment,” says Professor Mel Slater of the University of Barcelona. “In an immersive virtual environment, participants can see this new body reflected in a mirror and it exactly matches their movements, helping to create a powerful illusion that the virtual body is their own.”

Previous research found that virtual embodiment can have striking effects on attitudes and behavior. For example, white people who experienced a virtual black body showed less unconscious stereotyping (called implicit bias) of black people.

“We wondered whether virtual embodiment could affect cognition,” says Slater. “If we gave someone a recognizable body that represents supreme intelligence, such as that of Albert Einstein, would they perform better on a cognitive task than people given a normal body?”

To find out, the researchers recruited 30 young men to participate in a virtual embodiment experiment. Prior to the embodiment, the participants completed three tests: a cognitive task to reveal their planning and problem-solving skills; a task to quantify their self-esteem; and one to identify any implicit bias towards older people. This final task was to investigate whether the experience of having an older appearance simulation could change attitudes to older people.

The study participants then donned a body-tracking suit and a virtual reality headset. Half experienced a virtual Einstein body and the other half a normal adult body. After completing some exercises in the virtual environment with their new body, they repeated the implicit bias and cognitive tests.

The researchers found that people with low self-esteem performed the cognitive task better following the virtual Einstein experience, compared with those who experienced a normal body of someone their own age. Those exposed to the Einstein body also had a reduced implicit bias against older people.

Bias is based on considering someone to be different from yourself. Being in an older body may have subtly changed the participants’ attitudes by blurring the distinction between elderly people and themselves.

Similarly, being in the body of someone extremely intelligent may have caused the participants to think about themselves differently, allowing them to unlock mental resources that they don’t normally access.

Crucially, these cognitive enhancements only occurred in people with low self-esteem. The researchers hypothesize that those with low self-esteem had the most to gain by changing how they thought about themselves. Seeing themselves in the body of a respected and intelligent scientist may have enhanced their confidence during the cognitive test.

To further investigate the phenomenon, a larger study with more participants — and including men and women — is needed. However, the results so far suggest that the technique could be useful in education.

“It is possible that this technique might help people with low self-esteem to perform better in cognitive tasks and it could be useful in education,” says Slater.

About this neuroscience research article

Funding: Funding provided by Ser Einstein: La Influencia de Internalizar un Cuerpo Virtual en la Inteligencia, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad of Spain.

Source: Emma Duncan – Frontiers

Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.

Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Slater et al./Frontiers in Psychology.

Original Research: Open access research for “Virtually Being Einstein Results in an Improvement in Cognitive Task Performance and a Decrease in Age Bias” by Domna Banakou, Sameer Kishore and Mel Slater in Frontiers in Psychology. Published June 11 2019.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00917

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Frontiers”Seeing Yourself as Einstein May Change the Way You Think.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 9 July 2019.

<https://neurosciencenews.com/vr-einstein-thinking-9532/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Frontiers(2019, July 9). Seeing Yourself as Einstein May Change the Way You Think. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved July 9, 2019 from https://neurosciencenews.com/vr-einstein-thinking-9532/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Frontiers”Seeing Yourself as Einstein May Change the Way You Think.” https://neurosciencenews.com/vr-einstein-thinking-9532/ (accessed July 9, 2019).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]

Abstract

Virtually Being Einstein Results in an Improvement in Cognitive Task Performance and a Decrease in Age Bias

The brain’s body representation is amenable to rapid change, even though we tend to think of our bodies as relatively fixed and stable. For example, it has been shown that a life-sized body perceived in virtual reality as substituting the participant’s real body, can be felt as if it were their own, and that the body type can induce perceptual, attitudinal and behavioral changes. Here we show that changes can also occur in cognitive processing and specifically, executive functioning. Fifteen male participants were embodied in a virtual body that signifies super-intelligence (Einstein) and 15 in a (Normal) virtual body of similar age to their own. The Einstein body participants performed better on a cognitive task than the Normal body, considering prior cognitive ability (IQ), with the improvement greatest for those with low self-esteem. Einstein embodiment also reduced implicit bias against older people. Hence virtual body ownership may additionally be used to enhance executive functioning.

Feel free to share this Neuroscience News.