Asymmetric Reframed Reality Hackathon

Using immersive technology to create one shared experience, but different emotional responses. Come and see the final demoes form our hackathon

Goldsmiths SEE VR Lab will host a 48-hour interdisciplinary hackathon at the School of Computing’s new hub in the Caroline Graveson Building, as part of the Asymmetric Reframed Reality (ARR) research project led by King’s College London.

The is the first exploration of a new concept in immersive experience – Asymmetric Reframed Reality (ARR).

ARR draws on the powerful psychological concept of Reframing, which is used in cognitive behavioural therapy. It changes how an experience is interpreted to achieve a different emotional response to the same physical event. An extreme stretch of a body part, for example, might feel like discomfort in one context and an achievement in another. Immersive technologies can change the perceptual scene (most usually using visual displays and haptics), and so can provide a potent means to achieve reframing in real time. However, the dominant immersive technologies of today focus on distancing the user from their actual surroundings, either by completely substituting something else (most VR) or by adding extra content (most AR).

Our aim is to enable people to cooperate together in a shared activity, yet at least one of them to perceive it totally differently. Specifically, we invite you to explore how to achieve a change in an aversive situation which requires cooperation and participation, for example, undergoing a painful medical procedure, so that it is perceived positively by everyone involved. Importantly, we seek not to simply distract the person with a sufficiently powerful stimulus or scenario, as this takes them away from present reality. Instead, we want to explore ways to remain present, engaged, and able to cooperate in a shared interaction, whilst at the same time completely changing the perceived experience so the emotional response is the opposite of expectations.

The challenge of ARR is to achieve replacement and congruency at the same time – the immersive world should be different from the real exchange going on, in order to achieve reframing, yet crucially needs to remain precisely aligned with it, so that the subject can continue to participate without loss of presence.

ARR Hackathon Website

Dates & times

Accessibility

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