????隨著索尼（Sony）和Facebook 新收購的Oculus VR等廠商推出不那么昂貴的頭戴式商品，虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)已經(jīng)蓄勢待發(fā)，將在家庭娛樂和游戲領(lǐng)域大展拳腳。

????不過與此同時，虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)的計算機模擬環(huán)境還有望以富有創(chuàng)造力的全新手段改造一些重要產(chǎn)業(yè)，比如健康科學、金融服務和制造業(yè)。專家表示，這些將會改善我們的生活，讓我們做出更好的選擇。

????斯坦福大學（Stanford University）虛擬人機交互實驗室（Virtual Human Interaction Lab）主任杰里米?拜倫森說：“虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)可以讓那些抽象深奧的關(guān)系感官化。我們研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，讓這種因果關(guān)系能夠被人感知，而不只是停留在理論層面的話，它對顧客行為和其他行為的影響力將遠超其他任何發(fā)明?！?/p>

????即便在因果關(guān)系并不明顯的情況下，虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)也可以成為一種有效的工具。拜倫森與斯坦福大學的麻醉學系（Department of Anesthesia）合作，利用技術(shù)將患有慢性區(qū)域性疼痛綜合征（chronic regional pain syndrome, CRPS，一種由劇烈疼痛、出汗和皮膚病變?yōu)樘卣鞯募膊。┑膬和萌胩摂M仿真環(huán)境中，讓他們的大腦擺脫不愉快的理療和治愈方法。兒童使用電腦生成的替身“阿凡達”，即虛擬現(xiàn)實環(huán)境中的元素，來完成一些簡單的活動，比如戳氣球，以此轉(zhuǎn)移他們對身體痛苦信號的注意力。

????華盛頓大學（University of Washington）的研究人員發(fā)明了一種類似的療法，叫做“雪世界”（Snowworld）。伴隨著歌手保羅?西蒙的音樂，病人可以在其中專注地向企鵝和乳齒象扔雪球，而不用想著疼痛的傷口和灼熱的療法。研究人員表示，這項技術(shù)非常有效，減少了強力麻醉藥和其他易于使人上癮的止痛藥的需求。

????高德納研究公司（Gartner）消費者技術(shù)部門的研究總監(jiān)布萊恩?布勞表示：“在虛擬世界中全神貫注的體會與眾不同。人的腦海就像被搬到了我們現(xiàn)實里的電影屏幕中一樣，虛擬世界變成了真實的世界?！?/p>

????虛擬人機交互實驗室的研究人員正在研究虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)給許多行業(yè)帶來的影響。其中之一是金融服務業(yè)，他們已經(jīng)研發(fā)了浸入式的體驗環(huán)境，利用一系列金融情境，讓人們看到未來的自己。

????拜倫森說：“人們很難直接感受到由于年輕時候不注意儲蓄，等到老了后可能遭遇的貧困?！彼赋?，通過模擬環(huán)境，可以讓這種關(guān)系變得更加直觀。至少在實驗室的條件下，存款者的比例更高了。

????拜倫森說，投資銀行美林證券（Merrill Lynch）非常喜歡這項研究。銀行以該技術(shù)為基礎，設計了自己的在線應用“直面退休”（Face Retirement），讓任何擁有筆記本攝像頭的人都能創(chuàng)造未來的自己，還能與他們互動。

????拜倫森也在關(guān)注其他行業(yè)。他與位于洛杉磯的市場研究公司利伯曼全球研究（Lieberman Research Worldwide）建立了合伙企業(yè)AppliedVR，旨在推動虛擬現(xiàn)實仿真技術(shù)的商業(yè)化，最大限度地發(fā)掘它的商業(yè)潛力。

????利伯曼的董事長戴夫?薩科曼說：“員工安全和減肥將是首先進入市場的兩個領(lǐng)域?！彼a充道，AppliedVR也對偏頭痛的治療、飲食失調(diào)、戒酒和戒毒領(lǐng)域很感興趣。

????這家公司目前正與保險公司旅行者集團（Travelers）合作，開發(fā)使用虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)的手機應用，意在減少制造工廠和倉庫的意外事故。AppliedVR通過創(chuàng)造一個虛擬環(huán)境，讓人們在倉庫中像超人一樣飛行，從而實現(xiàn)了這點。它減少了工友們被鏟車撞上，或者從沒有安全護桿的平臺上掉下來的危險。

????薩科曼說：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這是一種十分有趣的體驗，它立刻培養(yǎng)出了人們對于安全的敏感度。”他補充道，這種類似游戲的體驗不僅有娛樂作用，還在感情層面影響到了人們的潛意識，從而讓人們更容易做出改變。

????高德納的布勞說：“培訓就是一個能從虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)中受益的很好的例子，我認為虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)對商界會變得十分重要，它的影響力將會在接下來五年中開始顯現(xiàn)?！?/p>

????如果到最后，虛擬現(xiàn)實技術(shù)并沒有比傳統(tǒng)的訓練和行為矯正方式更加有效呢？好吧，至少它會更加有意思。(財富中文網(wǎng))

????譯者：嚴匡正

????Virtual reality technology is poised to take off for home entertainment and gaming as inexpensive headsets become commercially available from companies like Sony (SNE) and Facebook's (FB) newly acquired Oculus VR.

????But at the same time, VR's computer-simulated environments are expected to transform key industries such as health sciences, financial services, and manufacturing in new and imaginative ways that experts say will improve our lives and the choices we make.

????"Virtual reality transforms relationships that tend to be abstract to become visceral," says Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. "Our research has shown that making this cause and effect relationship perceptual, as opposed to theoretical, changes consumer and other behaviors more than other interventions."

????VR can be an effective tool even where cause and effect are not obvious. In a collaboration with Stanford's Department of Anesthesia, Bailenson used the technology to place children with chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS) -- a disease characterized by severe pain, swelling, and changes in the skin -- in virtual simulations that divert their brains from unpleasant physical therapy and treatment. The children use computer-generated doubles known as avatars, a fixture in VR environments, to perform a simple exercise like popping balloons, distracting them from processing pain signals.

????University of Washington researchers have developed a similar form of therapy known as SnowWorld, in which patients concentrate on throwing snowballs at penguins and mastodons to the music of Paul Simon, rather than focusing on painful wound and burn treatments. The technique is so effective, the researchers say, that it has reduced the need for strong narcotics and other addictive painkillers.

????"The experience of being fully immersed in a well-made virtual world is like none other," says Brian Blau, research director for consumer technology at the research firm Gartner. "Your mind is transported in the same way that movies suspend our reality, and that virtual world becomes real."

????Researchers in Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab are studying the impact of VR across a number of industries. One of those is financial services, for which they have developed an immersive experience that introduces people to avatars of their future selves under a variety of financial scenarios.

????"People have a hard time tangibly understanding the possible poverty one might have as a senior citizen resulting from not saving money during one's youth," says Bailenson, noting that a simulated environment makes this relationship much more tangible, resulting in higher rates of savings, at least under laboratory conditions.

????The investment bank Merrill Lynch liked the research so much, he says, that it used the technology as the basis for designing its own online app known as Face Retirement, which allows anyone with a laptop camera to create and interact with their future self.

????Bailenson has his eye on other industries. Through AppliedVR, a new partnership between Bailenson and the Los Angeles-based market research firm Lieberman Research Worldwide, his aim is to commercialize VR simulations with the biggest business potential.

????"Worker safety or weight loss would be first to market," LRW chief executive Dave Sackman says. He added that AppliedVR is also interested in migraine treatment, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol recovery.

????The company is currently working with Travelers (TRV), the insurance company, on a virtual reality mobile application intended to reduce accidents in manufacturing plants and warehouses. AppliedVR does this by creating a virtual world where people fly through a warehouse like Superman, saving co-workers from hazards such getting hit by a forklift or falling off a platform without a safety railing.

????"We're finding this to be a fun experience that generates some immediate safety sensitivity," Sackman says. In addition to being entertaining, the game-like experiences make it easier for people to change by engaging their subconscious brains on an emotional level, he adds.

????"Training is a great example of a business process that could benefit from VR," Gartner's Blau says. "I think VR will be important to businesses, and its impact will start to be seen over the next five years."

????And in the case that VR does not prove to be more effective than traditional approaches to training and behavior modification? Well, at least it will be more fun.