May 18, 2026 09:06 PM
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-...-the-brain
EXCERPTS: The research has been published in Cell Reports. [...] In an experiment, volunteers given VR wings for a couple of hours started thinking of these wings in a similar way as actual body parts.
A part of the brain called the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) is used to visually process body parts, and experts think it's been hardwired by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to recognize human appendages like hands and feet.
[...] In the VR world, the wings completely replaced the arms of the participants – so they could no longer see their arms, just wings where their arms should be. The wings were also designed to model real aerodynamics.
Looking at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of the brains of the volunteers taken before and after the training period, the researchers found that the OTC region had been rewired to react more strongly to images of the VR wings than it was previously.
What's more, the neural pattern for wings became more similar to the pattern used for looking at human arms, particularly in the right side of the brain (the side generally responsible for processing visuals of body parts that aren't hands). The OTC also communicated more strongly with other brain parts linked to planning coordinating movement, known as the frontoparietal regions.
It's not entirely accurate to say that the VR wings had replaced the idea of human arms in the brain – the brain patterns generated when viewing wings were more similar to those we might form when viewing tools or animal tails – but there was certainly a shift in that direction... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: The research has been published in Cell Reports. [...] In an experiment, volunteers given VR wings for a couple of hours started thinking of these wings in a similar way as actual body parts.
A part of the brain called the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) is used to visually process body parts, and experts think it's been hardwired by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to recognize human appendages like hands and feet.
[...] In the VR world, the wings completely replaced the arms of the participants – so they could no longer see their arms, just wings where their arms should be. The wings were also designed to model real aerodynamics.
Looking at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of the brains of the volunteers taken before and after the training period, the researchers found that the OTC region had been rewired to react more strongly to images of the VR wings than it was previously.
What's more, the neural pattern for wings became more similar to the pattern used for looking at human arms, particularly in the right side of the brain (the side generally responsible for processing visuals of body parts that aren't hands). The OTC also communicated more strongly with other brain parts linked to planning coordinating movement, known as the frontoparietal regions.
It's not entirely accurate to say that the VR wings had replaced the idea of human arms in the brain – the brain patterns generated when viewing wings were more similar to those we might form when viewing tools or animal tails – but there was certainly a shift in that direction... (MORE - missing details)