How does Virtual reality affect the brain?
- isabellaperrin97
- Nov 21, 2017
- 2 min read
This is probably a burning question that you've wanted to know the answer to since this project began, so Professor Mayank Mehta from UCLA in Los Angeles told me what exactly goes on when the headset meets the eye.
What happens in the brain?
Leading neurologist in the study, Mayank found that space-mapping neurons in the brain react differently to virtual reality than they do to real-world environments and these findings are really significant for people who use VR for gaming, military, commercial and science purposes.
Scientists were studying the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in diseases such as depression and PTSD. The hippocampus plays a vital role in forming new memories and creating mental maps of space. For example, when a person explores a room, hippocampal nuerons become selectively active, providing a 'cognitive map' of the environment.
Neurologists have discovered that the hippocampus computes distance between subjects and surrounding landmarks, such as buildings and mountains. In real life- cues such as smells and sound can help the brain determine space and distance.
Mayanks team devised a noninvasive virtual reality environment and studied how hippocampal nuerons in the brains of rats reacted in the virtual world without the ability to use smells and sounds as cues.
They also measured the rats behaviour and neural activity when they walked in a real room designed to look exactly like the virtual reality room.
"We discovered that 40% of the hippocampus in the brain was scrambled when using VR."
The scientists were surprised to find that the results from the virtual and real environment were completely different. In the virtual world, the rats hippocampal neutrons seemed to fire completely randomly, as if the neurones had no idea where the rat was- even though the rats seemed to behave perfectly normal in both worlds.
How does this help with mental health?
Well every neurone in the hippocampus speak two languages simultaneously Mayank said that "in the virtual world- the language based on rhythm has a similar structure to that in the real world, even though it says something entirely different in the two worlds."
Using VR can mean that people with mental health disorders can relate to the real world but because it changes the connections your memory has with the hippocampus, it means that it can almost take you in a different world even though you have the senses to know that you're in the real world.
Mayank says that: "We're still trying to fully understand how this can improve mental health but for now, we know that in terms of the brains connection to VR, there is a strong reaction that drives the neurons out of control."
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