The brains of rats respond differently in virtual reality than in real life.

Originally shared by Cell Sciences Inc.

The brains of rats respond differently in virtual reality than in real life.

Researchers from UCLA discovered that space-mapping neurons in the brains of rats responded quite differently in virtual reality environments than in real life. Normally, the cells of the hippocampus form a map of our environment in the brain, both in rats and humans. However, when the rats were placed in a virtual reality, the hippocampal neurons fired randomly. The behavior during experiments was similar despite the suggestion that the rats had no idea where they were in virtual reality. The paper, published in Nature Neuroscience concludes that scientists need to be more thorough in studying the brain in virtual environments.

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Image: Imersion, Virtual Reality, Wikipedia