Cyberpsychology and Neuroscience

Cyberpsychology and Neuroscience

The laboratory must be like life! – 1979; J.J. Gibson, psychologist

The advent of computer graphics has widened many horizons: animation, gaming and online communities. Naturally, cyberpsychologists and neuroscientists wonder how the mind and brain are affected by developments of this new virtual reality. The ability of animation, modeling and rendering software has made it possible to mimic natural landscapes with a great degree of photorealism, contributing to the illusion of being there… Just like dreams, artificial and imaginary habitats can feel quite real.

Galaxy Rising. Sirius and Rigel are hypergiants (massive stars, much larger than the Sun) far away from Earth, and often referenced in science-fiction stories, such as novels by famous sci-fi author Isaac Azimov. Perhaps, just as the boundaries are pushed elsewhere, soon in the future the possibility will arise to virtually travel to extremely remote distances, millions of light years away, through digital recreations of intergalactic surroundings. Image: Copyright © Elena

Along these lines, Rey & Alcaniz (2011) cite a significant amount of diversified research looking at digital environments from a neuroscientific perspective. The authors further describe that these new technologies allow bolder experiments conducive to elucidating social interaction and brain responses from novel angles, such as navigation and spatial learning and memory in 3D modeled, controlled cyberspace. Further, animal learning and memory studies have often relied on the Morris water task and eight-arm radial mazes for rodents, as a standard test for spatial cognition. Just as with the application of this assessment, the writers suggest that virtual environments facilitate neuroscience and psychology research by eliminating many real life obstacles. Moreover, different cortical regions seem to be activated depending on the way in which a subject interacts with a virtual character or with its own avatar. The work also calls to attention an important fact, namely that during teenage years, frontal cortices are only approaching full development, and thus, this fact could have potential repercussions on the way teenagers, who are a large part of consumers of gaming, social networking, virtual worlds and other Web based applications, perceive the cyberworld. But aside from the frontal cortex, parietal and even temporal lobes become particularly activated during the process.

What’s more, Tarr & Warren (2002) believe that computer graphics hold great promise for scientific experiments in diverse areas, such as psychology, neuroscience, teleoperation, distant archeology and tele-immersion. The pair of colleagues talk about the VENLab (Virtual Environment Navigation Laboratory), a popular invention in related literature and an impressive, immersive space. Thus, the VENLab appears to have interesting implications for cognitive and behavioral sciences. One of the important hardware and software breakthroughs described focuses on interlinked reaction in real time, adding realism, a long way from the beginning of virtual reality: the computerized flight simulator. As a result, subjects feel so immersed and present, that they refuse to do what they would avoid doing in the tangible world, despite being in the fantasy realm. Additionally, the two coauthors also express hope that the methodology has medical relevance. In conclusion, a recurring finding is the importance of optic flow and other visual knowledge, vestibular and proprioceptive information and how it is gathered in three-dimensional worlds other than our own.

Interestingly, the subject has likewise been discussed in studies using neuromagnetic and hemoglobin changes dependent methodologies, such as magnetoencephalography and fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), respectively. Perhaps in time, alternative avenues will help to shed light on such important areas in neuroscience as neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, neurorehabilitation, neurorepair and neuroregeneration.

Computer graphics and computer generated imagery (CGI) have transformed visual arts. Image:Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

References:

• Rey, B. & Alcaniz, M., Research in neuroscience and virtual reality in Virtual Reality, Ed. Kim, JJ. InTech: 2011.
• Tarr, M. J. & Warren, W. H. (2002). Virtual reality in behavioral neuroscience and beyond. Nature Publishing Group: 1-4.