Imagine technology that could let you walk in someone else’s shoes, changing not just your perspective, but your deepest, most automatic biases. For years, researchers have explored virtual reality’s potential to foster empathy and reduce prejudice, but the question remained: Could it truly shift ingrained attitudes, such as ageism?

A new virtual reality experiment put this to the test, with surprising results. Young men who “became” Albert Einstein in a simulation emerged with significantly less hidden bias against older people and automatically linked old age to fewer negative traits. This finding hints that VR could become a radical new tool to fight age prejudice, though the trial also revealed some unexpected side effects that underscore the complexity of human perception. The work is published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.