REDEFINING THE HUMAN COGNITIVE EXPERIENCE: The Neural Suspension of Disbelief

"The study of the time relations of mental phenomena is important from several points of view: it

serves as an index of mental complexity, giving the sanction of objective demonstration to the

results of subjective observation; it indicates a mode of analysis of the simpler mental acts, as

well as the relation of these laboratory products to the processes of daily life; it demonstrates the

close inter-relation of psychological with physiological facts, an analysis of the former being

indispensable to the right comprehension of the latter; it suggests means of lightening and

shortening mental operations, and thus offers a mode of improving educational methods; and it

promises in various directions to deepen and widen our knowledge of those processes by the

complication and elaboration of which our mental life is so wonderfully built up."

— Joseph Jastrow in The Time-Relations of Mental Phenomena (1890).

What am I into currently, you ask? PSYCHOPHYSICS, by way of VR (virtual reality) experiences. VR has the potential, if handled correctly, to alter not just reality but also trajectory. If you are a leader, explorer, or, dang it, a basketball player interested in gaining first hand neural knowledge about how to improve, it is now possible to engage in virtually real experiences that come from fast processors and graphics chips that display images through wide-angle optics, producing stereo vision and immersion. The images are typically rendered in 360-degrees, which means "wherever the head moves, there is something to look at. Computers serve up the visuals so fast brains find it hard to distinguish VR from the real world. Add in sound, and VR delivers compelling environments that facilitate learning in a natural and intuitive way. The malleability of software allows developers to create rare and dangerous situations, circumstances that would prove too expensive to stage" (Rasmus, 2016). Learning by doing, after all, is a most effective means of knowledge transfer.

Think about it. If you are an organizational leader, a surgeon, a car designer, or a real estate agent, VR offers an unbounded method to reach and serve your employees, patients, and customers. Professional development, employee training, and retail, oh my! If leaders want to master the dynamics of innovation, they must seize opportunities in the face of technological change. Take, for example, some recent industry innovations.

On the manufacturing side, Ford has used VR to test the production process virtually, which allowed it to:

• Reduce employee injuries by 70%

• Reduce over-extended movements, difficult hand clearances and hard-to- install parts by 90%

• Reduce employee days away from work due to injury by 75%

Companies such as Audi are also using VR to showcase their products to consumers by giving them a first-hand experience of what it’s like to sit inside the car. Go ahead, experience it.

Glimpses of virtual reality can also be seen in the real estate market, where companies such as Sotheby’s have been allowing clients to tour multi-million dollar residences without having to leave their office. This allows them to maintain personalized tours without the inefficiencies of having to drive to each location.

In April 2016, the first live-streamed surgery was conducted at the Royal London Hospital. Anyone from around the world could follow along via two 360-Degree cameras as if they were there in the operating room. While VR is a useful learning tool, thanks to its deeply immersive nature it can be much more than that. For example, it can provide a therapeutic effect through exposure therapy for conditions such as PTSD and anxiety disorders, including phobias. Cedar Sinai hospital in Los Angeles provides VR to patients to reduce stress and pain, proving how such applications can greatly improve a patient’s experience and outcomes, as well as reduce costs.

At UCLA, Nanthia Suthana is one of the first neuroscientists in the world to harness the power of VR to unravel how someone’s brain encodes and retrieves memories while the person explores a new virtual setting on foot. Her work recently captured the attention of the popular digital network, Mashable, which profiled her in its “How She Works” video series. “Without our memories, each of us would be lost in time and cut off from other people,” said Suthana, an assistant professor of neurosurgery and psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “At UCLA, we are the first to blend virtual reality with a surgically implanted prosthesis to reveal what happens inside the brain when we create memories” (Suthana, 2017).

The ultimate goal? To develop therapeutic tools that could restore lost memories to people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological disorders (Schmidt, 2017). Jeremy Bailenson, Founding Director of the Thomas More Storke Virtual Human Interaction Lab and Professor of Communications, is currently engaged in several very intriguing projects. Bailenson studies the psychology of VR, in particular how virtual experiences lead to changes in perceptions of self and others. His lab builds and studies systems that allow people to meet in virtual space, and he is exploring the changes in the nature of social interaction. His most recent research focuses on how VR can transform education, environmental conservation, empathy, and health. A recent project from his team involves empathetic experiences where subjects are immersed in virtual reality experiences in which participants viscerally embody an avatar who encounters various forms of racism. The lab’s other works involves children and learning, sustainable behaviors, and empathy at scale.

Yes, some VR sets are a bit unwieldy. Yes, some experiences don’t feel quite “natural.” But when you put a good set on, the VR world truly is. Better decision making through technologically empowered virtual experiences is now possible. Understanding and adapting to innovation – “at once the creator and destroyer of industries and corporations”(Utterback, 1994)—is essential with increasing fragmentation and foreign competition, and the consequent demand for high cost-value and globally appealing products. “Organic organizations operate in an uncertain environment, so that individuals must collaborate on frequent adjustments in a limited hierarchy with a rich flow of communication” (Ibid.).

With great computing power comes great responsibility. Handle with care. Remember, although your eyes can deceive you and “many of the truths we cling to depend on our reality” (Obi-Wan Kenobi), it is ultimately “your focus [that] determines your reality” (Qui-Gon Jinn). Mind the gap.