Possibilities for decision science in the metaverse

As the next generation of the internet, the metaverse will be an immersive, interactive and persistent, three-dimensional world that merges both physical and virtual environments. Its associated advanced technologies (e.g., digital twins, avatar self-representation, virtual reality, augmented reality, extended reality, brain-computer interface, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet-of-Things, blockchain technology) are already functioning, and people are able to experience and make decisions in immersive virtual environments. In this paper, we first briefly assess the similarities and differences in the judgment and decision making (JDM) situations that people may face in the metaverse compared to their physical environments. Next, we discuss how human interaction with metaverse-related advanced technologies may affect the cognitive processes of perception, attention, memory and reasoning that underlie human JDM, as well as the subsequent effects of these processes on JDM, in both the virtual and physical worlds. Finally, we highlight some opportunities that the metaverse may afford decision scientists, given the availability of integrated, digitalized data collected from users (or research participants), and some of the challenges that lie therein. We structure these opportunities around the five key metaverse domains: digitalization, virtualization, social networks, virtual worlds, and data integration. As a research platform, the metaverse can help drive a paradigm shift away from traditional approaches to JDM research and enable decision scientists to test and consolidate existing theories as well as advance new ones, while conducting research that has social benefits.

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