Background. Currently in psychological rehabilitation the necessity of developing innovative methods for testing cognitive dysfunctions with via the modern sophisticated technology is becoming increasingly important. One of the urgent requests is associated with developing the methods of diagnostics and correction of spatial representations disorders, which are manifested by decreasing accuracy of spatial representations of the environment in particular.

Objective. To study this issue the method for evaluating the accuracy of spatial information using which the ability to memorize the three-dimensional complex scenes was developed. It was assumed that the accuracy of reproduction would differ significantly depending on the coordinate (egocentric or allocentric) system of mental reconstruction processing.

Design. The library of virtual objects and six unique virtual scenes were created. Each scene of seven objects was shown to the participants within the interval for 25 seconds. Thirty six subjects (aged from 18 to 26) participated in the experiment. They were told to memorize the objects and their locations, and then to reproduce the memorized scene using the given viewpoint of the scene. Three viewpoints were chosen: the "front" (to reproduce the scene from the egocentric position); the "left" and the" above" (to reproduce the memorized scene from on the left and above imaginary allocentric positions, respectively). To perform the task the participants chose objects from the library of virtual objects using the flystick 2 and placed them in virtual space in accordance with the memorized scene. The object locations in virtual space were recorded. Moreover, the accuracy of egocentric and allocentric representations in terms of measurements, topology and depth parameters were calculated.

Conclusion. The results show that the egocentric representations (the "front" viewpoint) were more accurate for all parameters in comparison with the allocentric representations (the "left" and the "above" viewpoints), and the “above” representations were more accurate compared with the “left” ones. The topological accuracy was much better than the measurements and depth accuracy. Regardless of the viewpoints, the topological space parameters are stored in memory much more accurately than the depth parameters, which, in turn, are reproduced more accurately than metric parameters. It was also shown that the accuracy of spatial representations differs for different allocentric viewpoints: the "above" view is reproduced much more accurately than the "left" view.

The method developed made it possible to reveal the features of encoding spatial information in ER and AP blocks in terms of measurements, topology and depth parameters. It can be used in clinical rehabilitation to test impairments in the perception of space, and also violations of short-term memory. The results obtained allow refining the existing models of encoding spatial information.

The paper discusses topical issues of virtual reality technologies in social research, particularly when studying the processes of ethnic cultural identity, development of ethnic and racial attitudes using «virtual avatars» for managing ethnic conflicts, development of communication skills in representatives of different cultures using virtual collaboration and video conferencing. One of the key issues of the paper to discuss the necessity of post-non-classical paradigm as a conceptual framework for social research. Contemporary social studies require developing new methods, technologies and techniques at all levels of the research: from task setting to the development of new methods and result analysis. One of the most promising methods rapidly developed in recent years is virtual reality technology. The paper presents the analysis of more than 40 experimental studies performed using CAVE and HMD virtual reality systems. Their application is considered hereunder for the studies of verbal and nonverbal cues in communication, social skills training, treatment of social anxiety disorders and the development of new methods of cognitive behavioural therapy. Studies on interpersonal communication with virtual partners (i.e. «avatars») are considered. Factors affecting the communication quality of avatars, its visual and behavioural realism, problems of seeing virtual human as real partners for social interaction are discussed. Special attention is paid to the studies of racial and ethnic attitudes performed using virtual reality systems. The possibilities of practical applications of the VR technologies for shaping positive attitudes and development of communication skills in a sociocultural context are emphasized.

In the article specific experimental studies, performed with the use of virtual reality systems are described, Promising directions of modification of research paradigms in cognitive, organizational, social and clinical psychology are introduced. The possibility of using new technology to address educational psychology, psychotherapy and psychological rehabilitation is analyzed.

In the article specific experimental studies, performed with the use of virtual reality systems are described, Promising directions of modification of research paradigms in cognitive, organizational, social and clinical psychology are introduced. The possibility of using new technology to address educational psychology, psychotherapy and psychological rehabilitation is analyzed.

The article is devoted to the problem of lightness perception. The strength of 3D simultaneous lightness contrast illusions was measured with the method of constant stimuli for thirty seven observers. The virtual reality technique was used to present stereo pairs of different 3D configurations of the illusion. The albedo-hypothesis and the coplanar ratio hypothesis were tested to explain the results. The changes of the illusion strength were consisted with the albedo hypothesis.