Seeing you as Einstein can change your thinking

The notion of having Albert Einstein's body can help unlock previously unacceptable mental resources finds a new study. After an "Einstein" virtual reality experience, participants were less likely to stereotype unconscious older people, while fewer respectable people behaved better on cognitive tests. Research published at the "Frontier of Psychology" shows that our brains have incredible flexibility in understanding our body. Researchers believe that technology is useful for education.

Professor Mel Slater of the University of Barcelona says, "Virtual reality can create the illusion of the virtual body so that you can change your own option, called Virtual Avatar. 19659004] Previous research has shown that there can be major impacts on the behavior and behavior of virtual incarnations.
Slater says, "We thought that the virtual avatar could affect cognition or not." "If we gave someone a recognizable body that represents supreme wisdom, like Albert Einstein, would they better cognitive performance than those who give a normal body? ? "

To find out, the researchers recruited 30 young men to participate in the virtual avatar experience.Before the Avatar participants had completed three tests – a cognitive task to reveal their plans and skills in problem solving, a task to measure self-esteem, and identify any potential bias against older people.The final task is to check if the 39, experience of the old simulation experience will change the attitude towards the elderly.
The participants in the research then followed the headsets of virtual reality and body.The half of the virtual body d & rsquo; Einstein and the other half experienced a normal adult body.After completing a little practice in his virtual environment with his new body, he repeated the underlying bias and cognitive tests.
[1 9459011] The researchers found that self-taught people had better cognitive functions after the Virtual Einstein experiment, which compared the average body to the body of a person. People who have been in contact with Einstein's body have also lowered the underlying prejudices against the elderly.

Twenty-two is based on the consideration of being different. Being in the old body can reduce participants' perspectives by blurring the distinction between older people and themselves.

Similarly, because of their extreme intelligence in the body of someone, participants themselves have a reason to think differently, allowing them to unlock mental resources , which they do not normally access.

The important thing is that these cognitive improvements were made only in low self-esteem. The researchers speculated that people with low self esteem had thought of themselves that they think of themselves. Seeing yourself in the body of a respected and intelligent scientist, can increase one's self-confidence during cognitive tests.

To deepen this phenomenon, further study with more participants – including men and women – is needed. However, the results suggest so far that technology can be useful in education.

Slater says: "It is possible that this technique helps people who respect themselves to perform better in cognitive tasks and be useful in education."