Symposium: Virtual Realities, real experiences. Perspectives from behavioral & neuroscience studies
Physical and virtual reality exist side by side but also increasingly merge. This symposium addressed central notions like subjective experience and presence in real and in virtual worlds. Participants are world experts in neuroscience and burgeoning fields.
They discussed how the potential of virtual worlds is currently harnessed by neuroscientists, for basic research and for societal applications, as well as for clinical use. Expected innovations and future perspectives of subjective experience were discussed in the light of increasing virtualization of our social interactions.

Agenda
13:00 – 13:20 – Welcome by the Paris Institute for Advanced Study
Prof. Saadi Lahlou, Prof. Gretty Myrdal
Presentation of the topic of the meeting
Beatrice de Gelder, Paris IAS and Maastricht University, & Julie Grezes, ENS Paris
13:20 – 14:00 – Presence, body ownership and vicarious agency – the Illusions of Virtual Reality
Prof. Mel Slater, UB
14:00 – 14:45 – Face-to-face interaction matters
Prof. Antonia Hamilton, UCL
14:45 – 15:00 – A VR_EEG Study on automatic threat perception and behavioral control
Juanzhi Li, Brain and emotion lab, Maastricht University
15:00 – 15:15 – The Effect of body posture, outgroup affiliation, and proximity of virtual encounters on human freezing responses
Manuel Mello, SCN Lab, Sapienza University Rome
15:15 – 16:00 – My virtual self as you: agency and perspective in VR
Manuel Mello, SCN Lab, Sapienza University Rome
16:00 – 16:40 – Review of some major questions
Prof. Alain Berthoz, Collège de France
17:10 – 18:00 – General Discussion
