Mel Slater
I am an ICREA Research Professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain, where I lead the Event Lab. Virtual Reality has typically been used for the illusory transformation of location - to place a person in a different, digitally generated place, to take part in the action there. While maintaining a strong interest in this, especially regarding social scenarios, my recent interest has focussed on using VR to transform the self. This work, inspired by and contributing to the field of body ownership illusions as studied in cognitive neuroscience points to an additional power of VR: Change the self not just the place.