It may seem a stretch to propose that virtual reality technology can play any part in reducing domestic violence, but that is indeed the hypothesis of a paper recently published in Nature.

The authors argue that VR can be used to force men who commit domestic violence crimes to step into the shoes of their victim.  The hypothesis is that many domestic abusers struggle to have any emotional recognition and that VR can improve this perception of emotions.

A lack of empathy

Previous research has contended that violence is usually related to a lack of empathy.  In other words, the abuser struggles to put themselves in the shoes of their victim.

The researchers believe that virtual reality can overcome this by placing the abuser in a virtual scenario where they are the victim of violence.  The team tested how this immersion affected the recognition of emotion in both abusers and a control group.

The session itself placed participants into the body of a virtual woman.  After a short period of assimilation and identification with their virtual self, they were subjected to violent behavior from a virtual man.  The behavior consisted of both violent gestures and language.

“The atmosphere is interactive, since the abuser looks at the participant’s face and shouts ‘shut up!’ when speaking, or ‘look at me!’ if looking elsewhere,” the researchers explain.

Each participant was required to take an emotional recognition test both before and after the VR session.  The results highlighted how much lower the ability to recognize fear in women’s face is among offenders, although they don’t necessarily suggest that VR can mitigate this impact.

It’s an interesting piece of work however, and hopefully more research will be done to explore the concept further.