Mel Slater
Biographic Data
| ID | 3658537 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mel Slater |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mel |
| FAMILY NAME | Slater |
| SIGNATURE | SLATER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6223-0050 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 23 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Enhancing the Well-Being of Psychiatric Inpatients with Substance Use Disorders Through Virtual Reality-Based Nature Exposure
Body ownership and vicarious Agency
Body ownership over a rock star’s body occured when the virtual body replaced the real body in VR, in a dressing room scene • Ownership was stronger when the virtual rock star body moved synchronously with the participant compared to asynchronously • Body ownership in the prior dressing room scene led to vicarious agency during a later on-stage rock concert performance • Participants with body ownership mirrored on-stage actions like holding a gu…
Immersive documentary journalism
The term ‘MENA’ refers to ‘Menores Extranjeros No Acompañados’ (‘unaccompanied foreign minors’) who are child immigrants to Spain who entered alone without legal documentation. Over the years, ‘mena’ has become a pejorative term associated with criminality, a view especially promoted by some on the political far right. In this article, we describe an experiment where virtual reality (VR) was used to place people among a group of young adults with…
Virtual self-conversation using motivational interviewing techniques to promote healthy eating and physical activity
The ConVRSelf system is well-accepted by participants and is ready to be tested with PLWO in a clinical setting
Bystander Affiliation Influences Intervention Behavior
Traditional work on bystander intervention in violent emergencies has found that the larger the group, the less the chance that any individual will intervene. Here, we tested the impact on helping behavior of the affiliation of the bystanders with respect to the participants. We recruited 40 male supporters of the U.K. Arsenal football club for a two-factor between groups study with 10 participants per group. Each participant spoke with a virtual…
The Ethics of Realism in Virtual and Augmented Reality
In this paper we consider ethical issues that could emerge with the widespread adoption ofvirtual and augmented reality (XR) as a consumer product. Our major focus is on a likelyfuture where, with technological advances, virtual and augmented reality may becomeindistinguishable from reality thanks to the improvements in sensory feedback, in the abilityto interact with virtual features, and in other elements that enhance the realism of the virtual…
When Your Robot Avatar Misbehaves You Are Likely to Apologize
Immersion and the illusion of presence in virtual reality
This commentary briefly reviews the history of virtual reality and its use for psychology research, and clarifies the concepts of immersion and the illusion of presence
Virtual reality in the assessment, understanding, and treatment of mental health disorders
Mental health problems are inseparable from the environment. With virtual reality (VR), computer-generated interactive environments, individuals can repeatedly experience their problematic situations and be taught, via evidence-based psychological treatments, how to overcome difficulties. VR is moving out of specialist laboratories. Our central aim was to describe the potential of VR in mental health, including a consideration of the first 20 yea…
Enhancing Our Lives with Immersive Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) started about 50 years ago in a form we would recognize today [stereo head-mounted display (HMD), head tracking, computer graphics generated images] – although the hardware was completely different. In the 1980s and 1990s, VR emerged again based on a different generation of hardware (e.g., CRT displays rather than vector refresh, electromagnetic tracking instead of mechanical). This reached the attention of the public, and VR…
Virtual Embodiment of White People in a Black Virtual Body Leads to a Sustained Reduction in Their Implicit Racial Bias
Virtual reality can be used to visually substitute a person's body by a life-sized virtual one. Such embodiment results in a perceptual illusion of body ownership over the virtual body (VB). Previous research has shown that the form of the VB can influence implicit attitudes. In particular, embodying White people in a Black virtual body is associated with an immediate decrease in their implicit racial bias against Black people. We tested whether …
Robots with Display Screens
It is important for robot designers to know how to make robots that interact effectively with humans. One key dimension is robot appearance and in particular how humanlike the robot should be. Uncanny Valley theory suggests that robots look uncanny when their appearance approaches, but is not absolutely, human. An underlying mechanism may be that appearance affects users' perceptions of the robot's personality and mind. This study aimed to invest…
The building blocks of the full body ownership illusion
Previous work has reported that it is not difficult to give people the illusion of ownership over an artificial body, providing a powerful tool for the investigation of the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying body perception and self consciousness. We present an experimental study that uses immersive virtual reality (IVR) focused on identifying the perceptual building blocks of this illusion. We systematically manipulated visuotactile and …
Putting yourself in the skin of a black avatar reduces implicit racial bias
Telling Stories within Immersive Virtual Environments
Portraying an unfolding story within an immersive virtual environment (IVE) is difficult: In an IVE, participants can pay attention to and interact with whatever they choose within the scene. Moreover, the decisions taken by virtual characters must appear consistent with their personalities and motivations but also take into account the human participants' actions, whenever relevant. Finally, the results of the interactions should satisfy a pre-e…
The Sense of Embodiment in Virtual Reality
What does it feel like to own, to control, and to be inside a body? The multidimensional nature of this experience together with the continuous presence of one's biological body, render both theoretical and experimental approaches problematic. Nevertheless, exploitation of immersive virtual reality has allowed a reframing of this question to whether it is possible to experience the same sensations towards a virtual body inside an immersive virtua…
First Person Experience of Body Transfer in Virtual Reality
BACKGROUND: Altering the normal association between touch and its visual correlate can result in the illusory perception of a fake limb as part of our own body. Thus, when touch is seen to be applied to a rubber hand while felt synchronously on the corresponding hidden real hand, an illusion of ownership of the rubber hand usually occurs. The illusion has also been demonstrated using visuomotor correlation between the movements of the hidden real…
Immersive Journalism
This paper introduces the concept and discusses the implications of immersive journalism, which is the production of news in a form in which people can gain first-person experiences of the events or situation described in news stories. The fundamental idea of immersive journalism is to allow the participant, typically represented as a digital avatar, to actually enter a virtually recreated scenario representing the news story. The sense of presen…
Human-Computer Interface Issues in Controlling Virtual Reality With Brain-Computer Interface
We have integrated the Graz brain–computer interface (BCI) system with a highly immersive virtual reality (VR) Cave-like system. This setting allows for a new type of experience, whereby participants can control a virtual world using imagery of movement. However, current BCI systems still have many limitations. In this article we present two experiments exploring the different constraints posed by current BCI systems when used in VR. In the first…
Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments
In this paper, I address the question as to why participants tend to respond realistically to situations and events portrayed within an immersive virtual reality system. The idea is put forward, based on the experience of a large number of experimental studies, that there are two orthogonal components that contribute to this realistic response. The first is ‘being there’, often called ‘presence’, the qualia of having a sensation of being in a rea…
From presence to consciousness through virtual reality
Measuring Presence
ly for all of these types of things metrics can be established which are descriptions of the system, and not descriptions of people's responses to the system. Witmer and Singer, however, define immersion as the person's response to the VE system. This difference in terminology is unfortunate, but not a matter of any great concern. In order to Measuring Presence 2 avoid further confusion I will use the term `system immersion' to denote my meaning …
A Framework for Immersive Virtual Environments (Five)
This paper reviews the concepts of immersion and presence in virtual environments (VEs). We propose that the degree of immersion can be objectively assessed as the characteristics of a technology, and has dimensions such as the extent to which a display system can deliver an inclusive, extensive, surrounding, and vivid illusion of virtual environment to a participant. Other dimensions of immersion are concerned with the extent of body matching, a…
Depth of Presence in Virtual Environments
This paper describes a study to assess the influence of a variety of factors on reported level of presence in immersive virtual environments. It introduces the idea of “stacking depth,” that is, where a participant can simulate the process of entering the virtual environment while already in such an environment, which can be repeated to several levels of depth. An experimental study including 24 subjects was carried out. Half of the subjects were…
Immersion and the illusion of presence in virtual reality
This commentary briefly reviews the history of virtual reality and its use for psychology research, and clarifies the concepts of immersion and the illusion of presence
Depth of Presence in Virtual Environments
This paper describes a study to assess the influence of a variety of factors on reported level of presence in immersive virtual environments. It introduces the idea of “stacking depth,” that is, where a participant can simulate the process of entering the virtual environment while already in such an environment, which can be repeated to several levels of depth. An experimental study including 24 subjects was carried out. Half of the subjects were…
A Framework for Immersive Virtual Environments (Five)
This paper reviews the concepts of immersion and presence in virtual environments (VEs). We propose that the degree of immersion can be objectively assessed as the characteristics of a technology, and has dimensions such as the extent to which a display system can deliver an inclusive, extensive, surrounding, and vivid illusion of virtual environment to a participant. Other dimensions of immersion are concerned with the extent of body matching, a…
Measuring Presence
ly for all of these types of things metrics can be established which are descriptions of the system, and not descriptions of people's responses to the system. Witmer and Singer, however, define immersion as the person's response to the VE system. This difference in terminology is unfortunate, but not a matter of any great concern. In order to Measuring Presence 2 avoid further confusion I will use the term `system immersion' to denote my meaning …
From presence to consciousness through virtual reality
Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments
In this paper, I address the question as to why participants tend to respond realistically to situations and events portrayed within an immersive virtual reality system. The idea is put forward, based on the experience of a large number of experimental studies, that there are two orthogonal components that contribute to this realistic response. The first is ‘being there’, often called ‘presence’, the qualia of having a sensation of being in a rea…
First Person Experience of Body Transfer in Virtual Reality
BACKGROUND: Altering the normal association between touch and its visual correlate can result in the illusory perception of a fake limb as part of our own body. Thus, when touch is seen to be applied to a rubber hand while felt synchronously on the corresponding hidden real hand, an illusion of ownership of the rubber hand usually occurs. The illusion has also been demonstrated using visuomotor correlation between the movements of the hidden real…
Immersive Journalism
This paper introduces the concept and discusses the implications of immersive journalism, which is the production of news in a form in which people can gain first-person experiences of the events or situation described in news stories. The fundamental idea of immersive journalism is to allow the participant, typically represented as a digital avatar, to actually enter a virtually recreated scenario representing the news story. The sense of presen…
Human-Computer Interface Issues in Controlling Virtual Reality With Brain-Computer Interface
We have integrated the Graz brain–computer interface (BCI) system with a highly immersive virtual reality (VR) Cave-like system. This setting allows for a new type of experience, whereby participants can control a virtual world using imagery of movement. However, current BCI systems still have many limitations. In this article we present two experiments exploring the different constraints posed by current BCI systems when used in VR. In the first…
The Sense of Embodiment in Virtual Reality
What does it feel like to own, to control, and to be inside a body? The multidimensional nature of this experience together with the continuous presence of one's biological body, render both theoretical and experimental approaches problematic. Nevertheless, exploitation of immersive virtual reality has allowed a reframing of this question to whether it is possible to experience the same sensations towards a virtual body inside an immersive virtua…
Robots with Display Screens
It is important for robot designers to know how to make robots that interact effectively with humans. One key dimension is robot appearance and in particular how humanlike the robot should be. Uncanny Valley theory suggests that robots look uncanny when their appearance approaches, but is not absolutely, human. An underlying mechanism may be that appearance affects users' perceptions of the robot's personality and mind. This study aimed to invest…
The building blocks of the full body ownership illusion
Previous work has reported that it is not difficult to give people the illusion of ownership over an artificial body, providing a powerful tool for the investigation of the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying body perception and self consciousness. We present an experimental study that uses immersive virtual reality (IVR) focused on identifying the perceptual building blocks of this illusion. We systematically manipulated visuotactile and …
Putting yourself in the skin of a black avatar reduces implicit racial bias
Telling Stories within Immersive Virtual Environments
Portraying an unfolding story within an immersive virtual environment (IVE) is difficult: In an IVE, participants can pay attention to and interact with whatever they choose within the scene. Moreover, the decisions taken by virtual characters must appear consistent with their personalities and motivations but also take into account the human participants' actions, whenever relevant. Finally, the results of the interactions should satisfy a pre-e…
Enhancing Our Lives with Immersive Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) started about 50 years ago in a form we would recognize today [stereo head-mounted display (HMD), head tracking, computer graphics generated images] – although the hardware was completely different. In the 1980s and 1990s, VR emerged again based on a different generation of hardware (e.g., CRT displays rather than vector refresh, electromagnetic tracking instead of mechanical). This reached the attention of the public, and VR…
Virtual Embodiment of White People in a Black Virtual Body Leads to a Sustained Reduction in Their Implicit Racial Bias
Virtual reality can be used to visually substitute a person's body by a life-sized virtual one. Such embodiment results in a perceptual illusion of body ownership over the virtual body (VB). Previous research has shown that the form of the VB can influence implicit attitudes. In particular, embodying White people in a Black virtual body is associated with an immediate decrease in their implicit racial bias against Black people. We tested whether …
Virtual reality in the assessment, understanding, and treatment of mental health disorders
Mental health problems are inseparable from the environment. With virtual reality (VR), computer-generated interactive environments, individuals can repeatedly experience their problematic situations and be taught, via evidence-based psychological treatments, how to overcome difficulties. VR is moving out of specialist laboratories. Our central aim was to describe the potential of VR in mental health, including a consideration of the first 20 yea…
Immersion and the illusion of presence in virtual reality
This commentary briefly reviews the history of virtual reality and its use for psychology research, and clarifies the concepts of immersion and the illusion of presence
The Ethics of Realism in Virtual and Augmented Reality
In this paper we consider ethical issues that could emerge with the widespread adoption ofvirtual and augmented reality (XR) as a consumer product. Our major focus is on a likelyfuture where, with technological advances, virtual and augmented reality may becomeindistinguishable from reality thanks to the improvements in sensory feedback, in the abilityto interact with virtual features, and in other elements that enhance the realism of the virtual…
When Your Robot Avatar Misbehaves You Are Likely to Apologize
Bystander Affiliation Influences Intervention Behavior
Traditional work on bystander intervention in violent emergencies has found that the larger the group, the less the chance that any individual will intervene. Here, we tested the impact on helping behavior of the affiliation of the bystanders with respect to the participants. We recruited 40 male supporters of the U.K. Arsenal football club for a two-factor between groups study with 10 participants per group. Each participant spoke with a virtual…
Virtual self-conversation using motivational interviewing techniques to promote healthy eating and physical activity
The ConVRSelf system is well-accepted by participants and is ready to be tested with PLWO in a clinical setting
Immersive documentary journalism
The term ‘MENA’ refers to ‘Menores Extranjeros No Acompañados’ (‘unaccompanied foreign minors’) who are child immigrants to Spain who entered alone without legal documentation. Over the years, ‘mena’ has become a pejorative term associated with criminality, a view especially promoted by some on the political far right. In this article, we describe an experiment where virtual reality (VR) was used to place people among a group of young adults with…
Enhancing the Well-Being of Psychiatric Inpatients with Substance Use Disorders Through Virtual Reality-Based Nature Exposure
Body ownership and vicarious Agency
Body ownership over a rock star’s body occured when the virtual body replaced the real body in VR, in a dressing room scene • Ownership was stronger when the virtual rock star body moved synchronously with the participant compared to asynchronously • Body ownership in the prior dressing room scene led to vicarious agency during a later on-stage rock concert performance • Participants with body ownership mirrored on-stage actions like holding a gu…
Psychology (21 works) · Computer Science (19 works) · Human–computer interaction (19 works) · Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts (19 works) · Virtual reality (16 works) · Cognitive psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Action Observation and Synchronization (8 works) · Illusion (7 works) · Neuroscience (7 works)