- perception of the data elements (searching);
- comprehension of data (relationships);
- projection of the future status (Where is the next data point of interest?)
In actual reality, becoming aware of the next “data point of interest” in a certain situation where the person is challenged to live in is a way to change perspective and go out of a mental pattern. By identifying blockages and discovering resources the client will move forward and achieve the desired result.
Multisensory experiences & a sensory approach to visualization
The different perceptual systems (visual, auditory, tactile etc.) are strongly inter-related, and operate in tandem. Although VRs have long used the visual path to our brains, some have extended the senses used in perceiving the virtual experience. Multisensory experiences allow sensory information not only via visual perception, but also auditory perception, movement and motion sickness, and haptic perception (the sense of force, pressure, etc.). Morton Heilig was the first to create a multisensory experience, back in 19619. He patented Sensorama, a totally mechanical virtual reality device, a one person theater, which included a three dimensional, full color film together with sounds, smells, and the feeling of motion, as well as the sensation of wind on the viewer’s face.
In coaching, the desired state of the client does not yet exist in real life, but can be mentally visualized. By means of visualization, a client can imagine the desired state in very detail. Through visualization and projection of desires, our mind can create a detailed potential future. Brain’s capability of creating a reality in our mind allows a very clear visualization of the desired state of the client by introducing into the discussion the senses. This can be done by inviting the client to visualize, see, feel the desired state. Using multimodal systems implies combining visual sensory modalities with non-visual: acoustics, haptics, and olfactory. Then, we could find some submodalities in defining the action and identify the blockages and limits.
What does the client see in the desired state? What does he/she smell or even… taste?
Which sensory perception are you most sensitive to in getting to know and apprehending the world?
Real, unreal… possible
The verisimilitude of virtual realities makes it a matter of perception to differentiate between real and unreal. In coaching, one useful approach is to make a shift from real/unreal to the realms of POSSIBLE. Is that possible? How, and what would you need?
But is our mind able to recognize the truth? If something SEEMS true, it doesn’t mean it IS true…Is it able to differentiate between truth and verisimilitude – the appearance of truth or reality? Look again! Sometimes, our mind is rather easy to trick!
Virtual environments can appear very natural and realistic… The generated image is assigned properties which make it look and act real in terms of visual perception and in some cases aural and tactile perception.10 VR environments are systematically constructed, represented spaces, and able to mirror aspects from real life. The verity dimension of VRs makes them correspond more or less to physical realities. VR entities within a virtual environment can have the characteristic of reality, simulating real-world counterparts. They can offer alternatives to real life, to the actual status quo… or they can offer an illusion of reality, fake realities, utopias. VRs can also represent abstract ideas which are completely novel and may not even resemble the real world.
If the desired state of the client is very different from what is known, accepted and already perceived as real in the actual world, the chances of being rejected by society or of believing that it is achievable decrease.
How “real” is our perceived reality?
When is it important to differentiate between real and unreal?
When would you focus on what is possible?
The illusion of presence
Immersive virtual environments can break the deep, everyday connection between where our senses tell us we are and where we are actually located and whom we are with. This phenomenon of behaving and feeling as if we were in the virtual world has lead to the concept of ‘presence’. Based on information offered to our senses, VR technologies offer an illusion of presence in sur-real realities and allow us to build new or simulations of reality. VRs are empowering. They offer the chance of feeling you have been bodily transported from the ordinary physical world to worlds of pure imagination.
Brain response to virtual realities
Recently, I went to a cinema to see The Hobbit 2, in an IMAX experience. After the movie, I meditated about how my body had activated some reflexes to what I visually perceived. The IMAX technology makes the experience rather realistic, and although my brain was constantly aware about the fact that “it’s just a movie”, when I saw one character throwing a dagger directly towards my face, my body intended to go aside for protection. Furthermore, when that virtual huge fly flew just next to my nose and further to my ear, my body automatically went aside to create a little bit of space for it.
So, although the reality was correctly perceived by the brain as not real, it still seemed realistic enough to trigger automated reactions at unconscious level, which were acquired from “realworld”.
Such experiences make you wonder, how appropriate are other responses to actual life events, and how many of them are just shortcut reactions to a piece of information that the brain has received?
How appropriate are our responses to reality and events in “real” life?
One thought provoking experiment regarding our somatic and emotional responses to virtual stimuli is the one made with a virtual environment representing a seminar audience12. In this experiment, subjects were asked to give short talks to the virtual audience, which could have a positive, negative or neutral attitude towards the speaker.
The behavior of the characters has been modeled on observations from real meetings, though greatly exaggerated both positively and negatively. Interestingly enough, though speakers were aware of the fact that the audience was a computer-generated image, and although the characters certainly do not look realistically human, subjects experienced similar feelings with the ones in actual life, with real audiences. The negative audience for example, provoked discomfort and anxiety responses irrespective of the normal level of public speaking confidence of the subject. The response of the brain to the virtual characters was similar emotionally and physiologically and went above all rational considerations of what is real.
A first application of this information could offer the perspective of usage in coaching for prior validation of identified solutions in a VR, safe environment by the client.
The “I” perspective
An important aspect of VR is that the viewpoint is subjective and presented as the perceiver’s own. The user is placed inside the image, and has a first-person perspective.13 This is especially relevant for coaching. We live our lives from an “I” perspective. It represents only 1 viewpoint, 1 perspective over the reality, and not reality as a whole! Different viewpoints give different perceptions and contexts, and variation of viewpoint is a factor much used in art, photography and media. In photography, for example, different lenses are used for various effects. Here as well, the standpoint and lens determines the view. It is all a matter of perspective. Viewpoint in this way provides a context for perceptual interpretation.
On the other hand, there are also VRs where we can be granted a body and see the reality with the eyes of an exterior observer (“God’s” eye). It may be important to consider the implications of making these different viewpoints appear to be the perceiver’s own. Part of our experience of the real world is that not only can we see, but we can often also be seen. This knowledge can affect the way we behave, our self image, and consequently the way we perceive ourselves to interact with our environment. This may be an important reason for providing the users of virtual environment with virtual bodies and registering their movements. Present development in digital games take the immersion further. Through motion within the game and appropriate equipment, full body gesture, position and locomotion are sensed and reproduced within the virtual world. Being able to see one’s own body may contribute to the visual perception of self.