Brendan David-John receives CAREER award to study how virtual reality influences human behavior
The five-year award from the National Science Foundation will fund research into how immersive technologies affect decision-making, spending, and privacy as well as how policy and technical interventions can protect users.
People put on a virtual reality headset to escape into a game, social platform, or immersive experience. But they may not realize the control those environments can exercise over them, from what they see to what they buy.
Brendan David-John, assistant professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award to examine how companies, designers, and even other users might construct immersive environments that influence behavior — and what can be done to prevent harms and manipulation.
“Brendan’s work addresses one of the most important questions facing the future of immersive technology: How do we make sure these powerful tools are used to help people, not deceive them?” said Christine Julien, head of computer science. “This research will deepen our understanding of how people behave in virtual environments, while helping developers, policymakers, and companies create safer, more ethical digital experiences. It reflects our commitment to advancing technologies that serve the public good.”
Give us your attention
For years, David-John has studied how people interact with virtual and augmented reality systems, especially systems that collect eye-gaze data that can pose privacy concerns. Now he will expand his research to investigate how visual cues, room layouts, advertisements, and in-game design elements influence decision-making inside immersive environments.
“Can I change what door you pick when you leave a level? Can I change the arrangement of a room so you make one choice more often than another?” David-John said. “If I can prove there is a relationship between these design decisions and what people do, then we can better understand how people could be manipulated.”
As companies invest in virtual reality, augmented reality, smart glasses, and heads-up displays, these kinds of immersive technologies are becoming more common in all kinds of settings, from education to business, entertainment to healthcare. That makes understanding how they can influence attention and behavior increasingly important.
“I think one of the ethical questions I hope to answer is, where is the line between nudging and manipulation?” David-John said. “Some personalization is good. People like personalization. But at a certain point, where is it going against my own best interests? And how do you define that line?”
This research may be especially important for children, teenagers, and people with neurodivergent conditions, who may be more vulnerable to manipulation. One of David-John’s doctoral students is studying how these groups may face greater risks in immersive spaces.
Public policy, educational impact
The project will begin with exploratory studies that examine how people respond to different visual and spatial cues in virtual reality. Over time, David-John said he hopes to build tools that help designers, developers, and creators of platforms such as the AndroidXR operating system identify and intercept potentially manipulative patterns before they reach users.
He is also working with collaborators outside traditional computer science fields, including experts in philosophy, privacy, ethics, and public policy.
Through Virginia Tech’s +Policy Network Policy Scholar program, David-John has built connections with organizations in the greater Washington, D.C., area, including the Future of Privacy Forum. Those collaborations could help translate the research into practical guidance for developers, companies, and policymakers. For example, the Future of Privacy Forum used David-John’s prior research on eye-tracking data access methods to provide a practical example of the data minimization stage within its Risk Framework for Body Related Data.
“There is a real public service aspect,” he said. “As these technologies become more common, we want to make sure they are designed in ways that are ethical and secure.”
The CAREER award also includes support for educational outreach. David-John plans to use the funding to support student researchers, hackathons, workshops, and travel scholarships that will bring students to Virginia Tech to explore virtual reality, privacy, and ethical design.
“The students who use these technologies are often some of the most informed about them,” David-John said. “We want to bring them into the conversation early.”
