Living In a Virtual World Requires Less Brain Power

sciencehabit writes "If you were a rat living in a completely virtual world like in the movie The Matrix, could you tell? Maybe not, but scientists studying your brain might be able to. Today, researchers report that certain cells in rat brains work differently when the animals are in virtual reality than when they are in the real world. In the experiment, rats anchored to the top of a ball ran in place as movie-like images around them changed, creating the impression that they were running along a track. Their sense of place relied on visual cues from the projections and their self-motion cues, but they had to do without proximal cues like sound and smell. The rodents used half as many neurons to navigate the virtual world as they did the real one."

Comments

So you're saying...

[filmorris]

...that by using half the senses you use half the neurons? Next thing you'll be telling me water is wet and earth is round!

Poor virtual worlds

[swillden]

This just shows that living in a poor virtual world, with less sensory input, requires less brain power. That may be an interesting result, but it's hardly what the headline says.

Missing something?

[jbmartin6]

Am I missing something? "Less input, less activity" seems incredibly obvious. There is value in confirming even the obvious but this seems a bit too far. Plus, the summary is way off since the tested 'virtual world' was nothing of the sort. The Matrix was a full sensory experience, not just a movie.

Lets not leap to conclusions here...

[Karmashock]

The virtual world that rat was placed in was not a true representation and doubtless lacked all sorts of things the rat's senses expected.

The conclusion here could rather be that the simulation wasn't very good... not that the rat needs less brain power in ANY simulation.