Our perception and cognition do not operate in isolation from the body. Posture and facial expressions can influence our mood and judgments, and the way we perceive the size of our own body can change how large or far away surrounding objects appear. The state of the body and our perception and cognition continually influence one another.
This relationship becomes especially clear when people use avatars in virtual reality. When people use an avatar as their own body, its appearance and physical characteristics systematically change their self-perception, behavior, and even abilities. For example, people using taller avatars are known to behave more confidently in negotiations.
We regard the body not as something fixed and given at birth, but as part of a reality that can be edited together with technology. On this basis, we study the mechanisms by which the body interacts with perception and cognition, and we apply these mechanisms in engineering to change people's cognition, behavior, and abilities for the better through avatars and other means. We call this body of research Ghost Engineering.
