From gaming to surgical training, virtual reality has a wide range of uses.

Now, researchers have developed a virtual reality system to treat men who have committed a domestic violence crime, by placing them in their victim’s shoes.

In the study, researchers from the University of Barcelona showed that violent people have a lack of emotional recognition, but that a virtual experience improves their empathy.

Mavi Sanchez Vives, who coordinated the study, said: “Virtual bodies can be drastically different from the participant’s, but even so, the individual goes under a strong subjective illusion of owning the virtual body.