We have launched a new edition of research projects conducted in collaboration with École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr.

From the LBM UW side, the project is led by Marcin Łączyński, Adam Balcerzak and Tomasz Gackowski, while the French side is represented by Aline Hufschmitt together with visiting interns in Warsaw — Thomas Cortès and Paul Gouth.

We are initiating the research project “Generation Kill / Patrol,” aimed at developing an immersive VR scenario to study perception , visual attention , and stress responses in tasks requiring continuous environmental monitoring. Participants take on the role of an observer in an armored vehicle, identifying threats and relevant visual elements. The project involves building a realistic simulation in Unreal Engine and using the Varjo XR-4 headset with eye tracking to record visual attention, iMotions for eye-movement analysis, GSR sensors for stress measurement, and in-game audio cues to examine how guidance influences responses.

The study will examine reaction time, fixation and saccade patterns, attention to AOIs, and relationships between perception and physiological stress markers.

One of the key objectives is to determine to what extent realistic VR environments can function as replicable and precise tools for studying cognitive processes as well as emotional and stress-related responses.

Between 19 and 24 January, a research visit by the team from the University of Warsaw’s Laboratory of Media Studies (LBM) took place at Syracuse University in the United States.

The visit was intensive and included meetings, lectures, and workshops. All activities shared one common goal: to develop better ways to describe and measure how people experience communication, technology, and narrative.

In the part devoted to political communication, Tomasz Gackowski and Karolina Brylska, serving as visiting professors, delivered a lecture with discussion and led a workshop designed specifically for doctoral students. The sessions focused on how emotions, a sense of authenticity, and the mechanisms of the spiral of silence shape public debate in Poland and the wider region, and on how these processes can be studied by combining different approaches and tools, including biometric methods. Doctoral students worked on their own research topics—such as polarization, the credibility of politicians, and AI-generated content—turning them into concrete project ideas and possible research strategies. The team extends particular thanks to Nick Bowman for the open and welcoming atmosphere that accompanied the meetings.

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We are happy to share that Adam Balcerzak, a member of the Laboratory of Media Studies UW, was present at the International Academic Conference “Shapes of Dystopia: Literary Imaginings and Social Realities Across Media” on 16 January 2026, organized by University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów.

Presentation: “Human vs. AI-Generated Tweets: A Biometric and Behavioral Study of Audience Perceptions Using iMotions”.

We have concluded the competitive selection procedure within the project “Maintenance of an Integrated Research Infrastructure for Behavioral Media Studies at LBM UW” (SPUB).

Based on the evaluation of the submitted documentation and the qualification interviews, the Selection Committee has selected for implementation the project authored by Dr Ewa Modrzejewska (Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw), entitled The Medium Is the Message: Experimental Research on the Recognition of Argumentation in Multimodal Data Visualizations. The aim of the project is to investigate, using biometric methods, the pathways of decoding and reconstructing the argumentative potential of data visualizations.

We would like to thank all applicants for their submissions – we appreciate their high academic quality and significant social relevance. We congratulate the awardee and wish her every success in carrying out the research using the infrastructure of the Laboratory of Media Studies at the University of Warsaw.