Empathic Smelling of Animals in Mixed Reality Perspective-Taking Game

The environmental and ecological challenges we are facing in Anthropocene lack action from the public due to Psychological Distance (PD), which makes it difficult for us to relate ourselves to the actual impacts of those problems. Building cognitive empathy towards the non-human is the foundation to changing the status quo.

I believe smelling as the non-human will change our ecological impact on this planet. As Dr. Harold McGee noted in his book Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells, “The ecosystem of smells is all around us. The universe of olfactory molecules has a huge and unnoticed impact on us, today and always. A pervasive, universal power, in space and time”, the cognitive potential of smell is huge and underexplored. Using immersive and wearable systems through perspective-taking game, my project aims to foster cognitive empathy towards animals through Empathic Smelling with non-human centered storytelling.

Anthropogenic chemical contaminants in the aquatic environment severely disrupts many species of schooling freshwater fish, whose social recognition is primarily based on chemical cues in water and is strongly attracted towards the smell of conspecifics. A fish-centered perspective-taking game would be developed that allows player, with trans-sensory olfaction and vision, to experience a fish’s schooling experience in ocean affected by anthropogenic chemical pollutants. Measures to evaluate empathic smelling effectiveness would also be investigated.