PRIN PNRR P2022SAPYZ - neuRocognitive effects oF Embodiment on Implicit aTtitudes - Finanziamento dell’Unione Europea – NextGenerationEU – missione 4, componente 2, investimento 1.1 CUP D53D23020800001

Prejudices, preconceived opinions based on factors such as race, gender, or body appearance, are a persistent problem in modern societies and the core of social discrimination. Indeed, prejudices lead to so-called negative biases, namely actual behavioral inclinations against certain people or groups. These unfair attitudes are difficult to be overtly manipulated because of their intrinsic, nonconscious, nature. However, Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) has been shown to have the potential to reduce such negative biases by affecting them at the implicit level. Specifically, the experimentally-induced illusory feeling of owning a virtual body that has the characteristics of another social group (e.g., a white Caucasian embodying a dark-skinned avatar) has been shown to significantly reduce the negative implicit racial bias against the “other” social group. While it is highly tempting to introduce avatars from the “other” group in immersive first-person video games and assume that it will lead to a widespread reduction of the negative biases, this must be approached with extreme caution since the neurocognitive basis of the impact of bodily-self illusion on social biases is largely unclear, making those neither efficient nor safe. With the long-term goal of mitigating negative social biases and, therefore, promoting a prosocial mentality in which the default option is tolerance and acceptance, REFIT aims to systematically investigate the biological nature of IVR-induced bias modulation. REFIT plans to achieve this aim by a) uncovering the neural correlates of the bias reduction, which have been so far only quantified behaviorally; b) finding a biobehavioral proxy of such bias modulation, since the current measures are not informative about the ‘cognitive’ nature of these biases; c) identifying shared/distinct mechanisms of modulation of different biases, since there is no general interpretation of the embodiment-induced effects on higher-level processes. The strength of REFIT is its unique multilevel and integrative approach. Each unit will investigate a specific bias (UniTO the racial bias and UniTN the weight bias) at both the neural and cognitive levels, and then compare each level across units. Each unit will therefore answer fundamental questions about the modulation of implicit social biases and, at the same time, generalize the results across biases. To address this complex research question, the joint effort of two research units with complementary methodological skills and research-related expertise is necessary. REFIT will benefit from UniTO’s deep knowledge of bodily awareness and IVR methodology, along with UniTN’s expertise in imaging methods investigating brain connectivity. REFIT will not only complete and expand the theoretical knowledge on body ownership and implicit biases, but also provide practical guidance for potential IVR-based interventions.