CCN Meeting | Marcel Brass (Humboldt University, Germany), invited by Gilles Pourtois

Group Influences on Motor and Social Cognition: A Virtual Group Approach

Research on how groups influence individuals has a long-standing tradition in social psychology, exploring topics such as social contagion and conformity. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying these group phenomena remain largely unexplored due to limited experimental control and the high costs of studies involving larger groups. Advances in virtual reality (VR) and gaming technology present new opportunities to study the effects of virtual groups on individual behavior and cognition, offering high experimental control in complex group settings. In my presentation, I will share examples of how we have used the virtual group approach to investigate topics such as the sensorimotor basis of social contagion, the experience of agency in groups, and the influence of group rituals on social conformity. These examples demonstrate that exploring individual cognition within virtual groups can provide an entirely new perspective on group-related phenomena.