Credit: Ziyi Xiong / Beijing Normal University, Yiyang Cai / Peking University
An experiment by neuroscientists has shown that after weeks of training in a VR environment, the visual cortex adapts to controlling organs that are atypical for humans.
In science fiction comics, characters often possess the ability to fly using biological wings, but this scenario has long remained beyond the realm of possibility for modern science. New research demonstrates that the human brain is flexible enough to integrate even limbs not designed for evolution into the body’s structure. Using virtual reality technology, scientists have demonstrated how digitally simulated flight alters the structure of perception at the neural level.
Researchers asked themselves whether humans could master the mechanics of bird flight in a virtual environment and how the brain would respond. To address this challenge, neurobiologist Yiyang Cai developed an intensive week-long training program based on the biomechanics of bird flight.
Twenty-five volunteers took part in the experiment. Using VR headsets and motion tracking sensors, the participants saw their digital avatars in a virtual mirror—human-like figures with massive, feathered, reddish wings. Control of the wings was linked to arm movements and wrist rotations: flapping and tilting movements in reality were duplicated by the virtual limbs, allowing them to maneuver in the digital space.
After completing the training course, the scientists conducted a functional study of the subjects’ brains. It was found that areas of the visual cortex that normally respond exclusively to images of human limbs began to actively respond to photographs of various wings. Moreover, the neural response to the wings began to resemble the brain’s response to real human arms. This indicates that the brain began to perceive the virtual wings as part of its own biological structure.
