Pretending to be a flying superhero can make you behave like one in real life, a study has claimed.
Researchers from Stanford University created virtual reality environments where participants were either given flying abilities or control of a helicopter.
The volunteers were assigned one of two tasks - either helping to find a missing diabetic child, or exploring a virtual city by aircraft.
Volunteers were taken to separate rooms after the task to answer a questionnaire. In this time, a trained supervisor "accidentally" knocked over a cup of pens.
Those who had been given flying powers were quicker to help their fellow man and pick up the pens.
According to the research published on PLOS ONE, six out of 60 participants didn't move at all, all of which had been on the virtual helicopter before.
The results show that virtual reality and gaming could effectively treat psychological disorders such as PTSD.