Stanford's newly renovated Virtual Human Interaction Lab was specifically designed for psychological experimentation in virtual worlds, says Associate Professor of Communication Jeremy Bailenson. "We integrate three virtual senses in a way that's very psychologically persuasive -- sight, sound and touch."

The state-of-the-art lab also offers a glimpse of the near future in household entertainment. "We're using this cutting-edge lab to try to think ahead by a few years to predict what household technology is going to be like and how that's going to affect people," Bailenson said.