socialmedian: The virtual body illusion and immersive Second Life avatars : Neurophilosophy

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The virtual body illusion and immersive Second Life avatars : Neurophilosophy

Submitted by Reechard from Google Reader

Oct 08, 2009

Summary

SECOND LIFE is an online "virtual world" which enables users to create a customised avatar, or digital persona, with which they interact with each other. Since its launch just over 6 years ago, it has become incredibly popular, with millions of "residents" now using it regularly to meet others, interact with them, and even to have sex. Users have also established virtual universities, businesses and a virtual economy.

Now, imagine a futuristic version of Second Life, in which avatars can transfer sensations to the bodies of their users. Such a scenario may seem far-fetched, but a team of European researchers has now taken us one step closer it. They demonstrate a perceptual illusion in which a computer-generated virtual body can be made to feel like one's real body, so that one can feel sensations from it and respond to it as if it were real.

The new work, led by Mel Slater of the Experimental Virtual Environments for Neuroscience and Technology (EVENT) lab at the Universitat de Barcelona in Spain, builds on earlier studies which demonstrate that the brain's

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