For two decades we have built and studied VR/AR systems that explore the changes in the nature of social interaction. We research how virtual experiences impact people psychologically, and focus on education, nonverbal behavior, climate change & empathy.https://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3msymuwmblc25New from Eugy Han & Keshav Rastogi: FIDAC, an open-source pipeline that pulls continuous interpersonal distance from video. It merges multiple face-detection models, human-coded face selection and depth benchmarking. Easy Proxemics for research without a needing mocap rig. arxiv.org/abs/2607.2514613 Aug 2026 21:51 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3msymuwmblc25https://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3msym27qby22wRinseo Park & colleagues mapped social networks over weeks from avatar body position. Each extra connection halved the odds of forming another; one mutual friend more than doubled them. Groups in VR should benefit by being initially seeded with existing friendships https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/social-interaction/evolution-networks-virtual-reality-scalable-framework-studying13 Aug 2026 21:36 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3msym27qby22whttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3msymuwmblc25New from Eugy Han & Keshav Rastogi: FIDAC, an open-source pipeline that pulls continuous interpersonal distance from video. It merges multiple face-detection models, human-coded face selection and depth benchmarking. Easy Proxemics for research without a needing mocap rig. arxiv.org/abs/2607.2514613 Aug 2026 21:51 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3msymuwmblc25https://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3msym27qby22wRinseo Park & colleagues mapped social networks over weeks from avatar body position. Each extra connection halved the odds of forming another; one mutual friend more than doubled them. Groups in VR should benefit by being initially seeded with existing friendships https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/social-interaction/evolution-networks-virtual-reality-scalable-framework-studying13 Aug 2026 21:36 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3msym27qby22whttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3miyub6z2xc2bGood teams delete. @portiawang.bsky.social and colleagues examined 146 creators working in groups and tracked body movements and construction behaviors continuously. Object deletion frequency predicted group entitativity and inclusion of the other in the self. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/predictive-analytics/synchrony-and-task-engagement-virtual-reality-temporal-dynamics08 Apr 2026 17:51 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3miyub6z2xc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3miyub6z2xc2bGood teams delete. @portiawang.bsky.social and colleagues examined 146 creators working in groups and tracked body movements and construction behaviors continuously. Object deletion frequency predicted group entitativity and inclusion of the other in the self. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/predictive-analytics/synchrony-and-task-engagement-virtual-reality-temporal-dynamics08 Apr 2026 17:51 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3miyub6z2xc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mgxhht4mqk2xReality Splits: Seeing Different Worlds in Mixed Reality | Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/vrtual-societies/202603/reality-splits-seeing-different-worlds-in-mixed-reality13 Mar 2026 17:39 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgxhht4mqk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mgxhht4mqk2xReality Splits: Seeing Different Worlds in Mixed Reality | Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/vrtual-societies/202603/reality-splits-seeing-different-worlds-in-mixed-reality13 Mar 2026 17:39 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgxhht4mqk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mgszhr3moc2uAugmented Reality eliminates "perceptual common ground". What happens when 2 people see very different versions of the world around them? New study by @eugyhan.bsky.social shows greater discrepancies resulted in less nonverbal synchrony and affected decisions. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/immersionpresence/not-seeing-eye-eye-effects-perceptual-conflicts-during-social11 Mar 2026 23:18 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgszhr3moc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mgszhr3moc2uAugmented Reality eliminates "perceptual common ground". What happens when 2 people see very different versions of the world around them? New study by @eugyhan.bsky.social shows greater discrepancies resulted in less nonverbal synchrony and affected decisions. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/immersionpresence/not-seeing-eye-eye-effects-perceptual-conflicts-during-social11 Mar 2026 23:18 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgszhr3moc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3meqo3ldtec2zUnderwater VR! Floating free (compared to being docked in water or on dry land) caused more psychological ocean connection and positive emotions. Floaters believed they had drifted 4 meters even though they were stationary (i.e., vection). Santoso and colleagues: https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/environmental-behavior/underwater-virtual-reality-and-situated-cognition-comparing13 Feb 2026 13:59 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3meqo3ldtec2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3meqo3ldtec2zUnderwater VR! Floating free (compared to being docked in water or on dry land) caused more psychological ocean connection and positive emotions. Floaters believed they had drifted 4 meters even though they were stationary (i.e., vection). Santoso and colleagues: https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/environmental-behavior/underwater-virtual-reality-and-situated-cognition-comparing13 Feb 2026 13:59 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3meqo3ldtec2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mccrckgl222kWhat if you had a real encounter, then used genAI to model it, and weeks later relived the memory in VR? Largescale, longitudinal study by @portiawang.bsky.social at JCMC. Reliving past memories caused groups to be better, in speech, in gestures, and in outcomes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAqf2dy_uUs13 Jan 2026 14:29 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mccrckgl222khttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mccrckgl222kWhat if you had a real encounter, then used genAI to model it, and weeks later relived the memory in VR? Largescale, longitudinal study by @portiawang.bsky.social at JCMC. Reliving past memories caused groups to be better, in speech, in gestures, and in outcomes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAqf2dy_uUs13 Jan 2026 14:29 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mccrckgl222khttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mbrkvts4sc2jVHIL-E knows it all but rarely hallucinates! Lab materials collected, cleaned, classified, chunked, created embeddings, correlated in an index, & connected ("7 Cs"). Over 2.3 million words segmented into 10k "chunks" integrated into an RAG-based LLM. Now published. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/learning/explication-and-classroom-field-study-virtual-human-interaction-labs-expert06 Jan 2026 18:19 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbrkvts4sc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3mbrkvts4sc2jVHIL-E knows it all but rarely hallucinates! Lab materials collected, cleaned, classified, chunked, created embeddings, correlated in an index, & connected ("7 Cs"). Over 2.3 million words segmented into 10k "chunks" integrated into an RAG-based LLM. Now published. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/learning/explication-and-classroom-field-study-virtual-human-interaction-labs-expert06 Jan 2026 18:19 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbrkvts4sc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3m23i7dap3c2gThe Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience, downloaded from Steam in over half of the countries in the world, showcased everywhere from Superbowl to Senate, studied thoroughly, with scholars typically demonstrating increased learning and motivation. Now Free on Meta! https://www.meta.com/experiences/stanford-ocean-acidification-experience/31541953515420265/30 Sep 2025 21:36 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3m23i7dap3c2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3m23i7dap3c2gThe Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience, downloaded from Steam in over half of the countries in the world, showcased everywhere from Superbowl to Senate, studied thoroughly, with scholars typically demonstrating increased learning and motivation. Now Free on Meta! https://www.meta.com/experiences/stanford-ocean-acidification-experience/31541953515420265/30 Sep 2025 21:36 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3m23i7dap3c2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3lz5e4yyq5s2fPeople become attached to places they spend time in. 3D maps allow visits in VR. Santoso & colleagues show that visiting distant locations makes even politically conservative participants care about real climate change news in that city, compared to static images. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/environmental-behavior/virtual-reality-reduces-climate-indifference-making-distant18 Sep 2025 22:03 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3lz5e4yyq5s2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3lz5e4yyq5s2fPeople become attached to places they spend time in. 3D maps allow visits in VR. Santoso & colleagues show that visiting distant locations makes even politically conservative participants care about real climate change news in that city, compared to static images. https://vhil.stanford.edu/publications/environmental-behavior/virtual-reality-reduces-climate-indifference-making-distant18 Sep 2025 22:03 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3lz5e4yyq5s2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3lxuerkwxls2hVirtual Becomes Reality finally available (for free) on Quest. Take a guided 15-minute tour of the Stanford lab. Fly like a hero, walk the plank, defend coral in Palau, become a QB, dance with Grover, transform identity in the mirror. Now we are bringing the lab to you! https://www.meta.com/experiences/stanford-virtual-becomes-reality/24113888884886393/02 Sep 2025 14:55 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxuerkwxls2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3lxuerkwxls2hVirtual Becomes Reality finally available (for free) on Quest. Take a guided 15-minute tour of the Stanford lab. Fly like a hero, walk the plank, defend coral in Palau, become a QB, dance with Grover, transform identity in the mirror. Now we are bringing the lab to you! https://www.meta.com/experiences/stanford-virtual-becomes-reality/24113888884886393/02 Sep 2025 14:55 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxuerkwxls2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/stanfordvr.bsky.social/post/3lw5ebzela222BEASTS: Dual Perspectives on Virtual Puppetry through Theatrical Expression and XR Research Stanford VHIL & C.U.T.E. blend theater & research via live digital puppetry drawing on Korean folklore. Performer creates & becomes shaped by fantastical representations. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/siggraph-2025-experience-hall-ignites-the-future-of-interaction-and-storytelling-302519686.html11 Aug 2025 17:50 +0000at://did:plc:yrvyl2vyle2yxjt5dygnx545/app.bsky.feed.post/3lw5ebzela222