Virtual Reality for Animals: linking concrete and abstract reasoning through action in virtual space

The key feature of VR (Virtual reality) is the way we can now concretise the abstract. The key question is how the abstract, the purely mental, relates to the physical, the concrete, the bodily. Can the experiential and cognitive aspects of mental life be catered for, indeed blended, through smooth human- computer interaction in a VR? In this speculative paper, I claim that they can be more than blended, that experiential interaction with concrete objects allows abstract, purely cognitive work to be bodily located within a virtually- physical landscape, and that this has to be designed in addition to the physical, bodily experiences which may (or may not) stand for abstract entities and relationships. So I suggest that there are three domains for the design of VR interaction: VR as pure bodily experience, VR as one or more embodiments of abstract knowledge, and VR as a link between the bodily and the abstract in the human participant. Including the third domain allows VRs to be designed with the express purpose of supporting cognition and creativity through virtual spatial action and experience. The approach draws loosely on the experiential theory of meaning of Lakoff and Johnson as well as Jung's views on the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious.