Research in Neuroscience and Virtual Reality

Abstract

Virtual reality is one of the most challenging applications of computer graphics and iscurrently being used in many fields. Participants of immersive virtual environments haveunique experiences which were never before possible. Although they know from a cognitivepoint of view that the virtual environment is not a real place, they act and think as if thevirtual environment were real. Virtual environments take advantage of the imaginativeability of people to psychologically transport them to other places.In this chapter, we are going to analyze the two-way relationship between virtual realityand neuroscience.First, it will be described how virtual reality can be a useful tool in neuroscience research, aslong as it can be used to create controlled environments where participants can performtasks while their responses are monitored in order to achieve a more detailed understandingof the associated brain processes. Previous work and research in this field will be detailedand discussed.Secondly, the applications of neuroscience in the virtual reality field will be analyzed. Thereare aspects of the virtual reality experience such as presence that can be an object of studyfor neuroscientists (Sanchez-Vives & Slater, 2005). Results from neuroscience studies canhelp virtual reality researchers to improve their knowledge about the processes that occur inthe brain during the exposure to virtual environments and generate more compelling andeffective versions of the virtual environments that they develop.At the end of the chapter, some general conclusions and implications that the research invirtual reality and neuroscience may have for future work will be described.The different kinds of studies that will be described in this chapter are listed in Table 1.