Para que serve o ambiente de realidade virtual (Fuvest 2002)

IF PUBLIC speaking gives you the willies, the chances are you'll be just as scared of virtual people, experts have discovered. But in the long run these "avatars" will help you overcome your fears. Mel Slater at University College London, and his colleague David-Paul Pertaub have developed a VR environment to help people overcome their phobias. In their virtual seminar room, people have to give a presentation to eight computer-generated people who can appear by turns fascinated, bored stiff or just annoyingly neutral. While it's not the first time VR has been used to treat phobias, such as fear of spiders or flying, no one knew if the technique could also help people to overcome their social phobias. To find out, Pertaub watched how people behave in seminars and programmed the virtual people to do the same things: crossing their arms, frowning, yawning and putting their feet on the table. "Our negative audience is very negative," says Slater. Then Slater and Pertaub compared the performances of 43 volunteers who gave a talk either to an attentive audience or to an unenthusiastic one. Surprisingly, the subjects responded as if the avatars were real.
21 July 2001• New Scientist • www.newscientist.com

Fonte: New Scientist, 2001-07-21.

Which of these statements is true according to the passage?

A) The virtual-reality technique has proved to be more effective for social rather than other phobics.
B) The virtual-reality environment was developed to help people get rid of their fears.
C) People who have fear of spiders or flying will, in the long run, become social phobics.
D) The virtual-reality environment appears to be ineffective for treating some types of phobias.
E) So far the virtual-reality technique has been used only to help social phobics.

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Resposta correta: B

"Mel Slater at University College London, and his colleague David-Paul Pertaub have developed a VR environment to help people overcome their phobias": "overcome their phobias" é o mesmo que "get rid of their fears" da letra B. A afirma uma eficácia comparada que o texto explicitamente não tem, porque "no one knew if the technique could also help people to overcome their social phobias". E diz que a técnica só foi usada com fóbicos sociais, mas o próprio texto lembra que ela já era aplicada ao medo de aranhas e de voar. D inverte o sentido da pesquisa, que investiga se a técnica funciona, e não conclui que ela falha. A Fuvest não publicou o gabarito desta prova; esta resposta é a leitura do nosso time, não a oficial.

Para que serve o ambiente de realidade virtual (Fuvest 2002)

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