💡Can we trust synthetic data for statistical inference?

We show that synthetic data (e.g., LLM simulations) can significantly improve the performance of inference tasks. The key intuition lies in the interactions between the moment residuals of synthetic data and those of real data

People 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.

vhil.stanford.edu/publications...

5 robust, replicated, & meta-analyzed findings from 30 years of psych research in VR. Timeline of events in experiment history, recommendations for consumers & scholars new to the medium, and the DICE model on when to use (and not use) VR.

@nathumbehav.nature.com

vhil.stanford.edu/publications...

How do groups behave in VR?

Monique Santoso coded 9,000 speech acts to develop Virtual Reality Interaction Dynamics Scheme, 10 speech acts (e.g., disagreements, context-dependent commentary). Prior speech acts and current nonverbal behavior predict group action.

vhil.stanford.edu/publications...

📢New Pub📢 led by @portiawang.bsky.social (soon out in #CSCW2025 ) investigates turn-taking behaviors in social #VR by extracting features based on social dynamics literature 🗣️

New paper out! We explore avatar embodiment experiences of 52 Black users in social VR from ethnographic interviews + lab study. Findings unpack embodied consequences of racial representation in immersive VR and how users navigated challenges to expressing identity. vhil.stanford.edu/publications...

Congrats to @eugyhan.bsky.social who has officially accepted a tenure track position at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communication, bringing her stellar research on avatar identity, human perception, and VR classrooms to the Sunshine State.

Go Gators! @ufjschool.bsky.social

In Social VR "two levels" of strangers can be present. Avatars from remote places a virtual room, and physical people you might not know in the room where you don a headset. Eugy Han & colleagues find that both physical and virtual strangers impact social behavior.

vhil.stanford.edu/publications...