RETRAIN: Investigating the effects and potential of VR interventions to reduce real-world racial biases using intelligent virtual agents

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Birgit Lugrin
• Subject Area: Image and Language Processing, Computer Graphics and Visualisation, Human Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous and Wearable Computing
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550291237

We are living in an increasingly diverse society, and encounters with individuals from mixed-cultural backgrounds—meaning two or more cultures present in one person—are becoming more frequent. While most people perceive themselves as unbiased and egalitarian, implicit biases are still widely present. A variety of studies have been conducted to tackle the phenomenon of implicit racial bias and its potential reduction; however, there is still little to no research on the reproduction of results, subtle variations, multiple exposures, or long-term effects. Technical interventions show promise in thoroughly studying the phenomenon in highly controlled and repeatable settings, as well as providing scalable solutions. We have demonstrated that through interaction with mixed-cultural intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) in a virtual reality (VR) environment, both explicit and implicit racial biases of participants can be significantly reduced. In this project, we aim to build on these results and fundamentally research the potential of VR interventions using IVAs to manipulate real-world racial bias. In doing so, we aim to surpass the state-of-the-art and investigate how racial bias towards different cultures can be manipulated within different target groups. Additionally, we aim to conduct longitudinal studies in this domain for the first time. To achieve these goals, we propose a series of studies that will investigate which aspects are crucial for racial bias reduction, test the transferability of the approach to other cultures and target groups, and determine whether the effects persist over time. We will provide and distribute different technical solutions, which will also serve as guidance for future investigations into bias manipulation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants