Inside an unassuming room on Stanford ’ s campus , a man

Teaching and learning in virtual reality at wearing a VR headset gazes at a

Stanford University ’ s Virtual Human Interaction Lab . mountain-studded horizon that ’ s fading from pink to blue under a

BY GARAGE STAFF starry nighttime sky . The serene

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WINNI WINTERMEYER view melts away , and suddenly he ’ s teetering on a narrow plank of wood above a dark abyss . His heart pounds and he spreads his arms wide , trying to keep his balance .

Instructions are given : Don ’ t look down — because whichever way you look , you ’ ll fall . The viewer peers over his right shoulder before abruptly plunging into virtual space . His body jolts and he lands in a crouch , rising slowly to try again .

This demonstration is part of a sampling of the VR experiences designed by researchers at Stanford ’ s Virtual Human Interaction Lab ( VHIL ). Founded by director Jeremy Bailenson in 2003 , the lab uses VR to study human behavior and how it can shift users ’ attitudes and positively impact that behavior .

Bailenson and his researchers study how groups form and change over time in VR ; how nonverbal behavior and social interaction

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