A virtual reality underground ride has been used by researchers to reveal the extent that paranoia occurs in the general public. The research demonstrates that suspicious or paranoid thoughts are much more common in the general population than was previously thought, and that they are almost as common as anxiety and depression. Researchers found that the participants interpreted the same computer characters very differently. The most common reaction was to find the virtual reality characters friendly or neutral, but almost 40% of the participants experienced at least one paranoid thought.