How the human brain goes virtual: Distinct cortical regions of the person-processing network are involved in self-identification with virtual agents
| Autor: | Shanti Ganesh, Evan Thompson, Floris P. de Lange, Hein T. van Schie, Daniël H. J. Wigboldus |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Brain activity and meditation Cognitive Neuroscience Metaverse Brain mapping User-Computer Interface Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience Functional neuroimaging medicine Humans Interpersonal Relations Role Playing Recognition memory Avatar Brain Mapping Behaviour Change and Well-being Social Identification medicine.diagnostic_test ComputingMilieux_PERSONALCOMPUTING Brain Recognition Psychology Cognition 180 000 Predictive Brain Video Games Female Psychology Functional magnetic resonance imaging Cognitive psychology |
| Zdroj: | Cerebral Cortex, 22, 7, pp. 1577-1585 Cerebral Cortex, 22, 1577-1585 |
| ISSN: | 1047-3211 |
| Popis: | Contains fulltext : 102600.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Millions of people worldwide engage in online role-playing with their avatar, a virtual agent that represents the self. Previous behavioral studies have indicated that many gamers identify more strongly with their avatar than with their biological self. Through their avatar, gamers develop social networks and learn new social-cognitive skills. The cognitive neurosciences have yet to identify the neural processes that underlie self-identification with these virtual agents. We applied functional neuroimaging to 22 long-term online gamers and 21 nongaming controls, while they rated personality traits of self, avatar, and familiar others. Strikingly, neuroimaging data revealed greater avatar-referential cortical activity in the left inferior parietal lobe, a region associated with self-identification from a third-person perspective. The magnitude of this brain activity correlated positively with the propensity to incorporate external body enhancements into one's bodily identity. Avatar-referencing furthermore recruited greater activity in the rostral anterior cingulate gyrus, suggesting relatively greater emotional self-involvement with one's avatar. Post-scanning behavioral data revealed superior recognition memory for avatar relative to others. Interestingly, memory for avatar positively covaried with play duration. These findings significantly advance our knowledge about the brain's plasticity to self-identify with virtual agents and the human cognitive-affective potential to live and learn in virtual worlds. 9 p. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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