A landmark study entitled "Behavioural and neurophysiological indices of racial bias modulation after virtual embodiment in other-race bodies" has recently been published in the prestigious journal iScience. The study, conducted by researcher Maria Pyasik of the University of Turin and coordinated by Prof. Lorenzo Pia (University of Turin) and Alice Mado Proverbio (University of Milano-Bicocca), integrated for the first time immersive virtual reality (VIR) technology and electroencephalogram (EEG) to investigate the neurocognitive basis underlying the reduction of racial bias.
Prejudice, whether based on gender, religion or race, is one of the most problematic issues in modern societies. Because of their hidden and unconscious nature, they are largely immune to manipulation and therefore currently constrain our behaviour, becoming de facto the core of social discrimination. However, recent developments in the field of cognitive neuroscience have brought into vogue a particular phenomenon that can be achieved through Immersive Virtual Reality (ICR). Specifically, it has been shown how specific techniques can induce the full body illusion of 'wearing' a virtual body (avatar) that is different from one's own. This 'becoming someone else' radically and automatically affects behaviour to the point of changing attitudes, beliefs and implicit attitudes such as prejudice.
The research investigated the behavioural and neurophysiological markers of the reduction in racial prejudice brought about by feeling in a body of a different ethnicity. Participants embodied (wore) an avatar of their own ethnicity (Caucasian) or of another ethnic group (Black), after which the brain activity underlying a racial prejudice task was recorded. The results showed that negative racial prejudice was significantly reduced only after embodying the black avatar, and that the electrophysiological marker of prejudice itself (the N400 wave of EEG evoked potentials) also decreased, although not in a statistically significant way.
Despite the need for new evidence, particularly on the neural level, the study broadens the horizon on the role of the body in our behaviour. Perhaps even more importantly, it shows how the experimental manipulation known as the Full Body Illusion (FBI) can be a tool capable of plastically modifying and perhaps reducing negative implicit biases. In other words, this type of ICR could be used to promote social inclusion.
"This study is important," says researcher Maria Pyasik, "because it is the first to examine the neurocognitive correlates underlying the reduction in racial prejudice produced by the full-body illusion. The study has allowed us to understand the phenomenon in greater depth, so that we can be better informed when developing intervention applications in social contexts. If we consider that ICR is becoming more accessible and used today, it becomes clear what its enormous application potential and possible social value can be'.
The next steps," adds Prof. Lorenzo Pia, "will be to validate the neurophysiological data, i.e. to identify with greater certainty the possible cortical (and other) markers of the reduction of prejudice against a different ethnic group as a result of 'feeling' in a body of that ethnic group. In addition, it would be important to investigate the mechanisms underlying prejudice by analysing other factors such as gender, age or religious beliefs. This would make it possible to develop standardised procedures and protocols that would help to reduce prejudice and thus promote social inclusion.
The electrophysiological technique, and in particular the observation of the N400," explains Prof. Alice Mado Proverbio, "is used in social neuroscience, as well as in ethnic prejudice, to measure implicit gender and sex prejudices. Bioelectrical activity reflects the presence of unconscious stereotypes, which are represented in the medial prefrontal area of the brain. The possibility of experiencing a virtual body different from oneself in immersive reality (VR) offers interesting perspectives in the field of disability awareness and those who appear different to us.