Virtual reality can profoundly alter the brain’s perception of the body, according to a new study.
Researchers gave volunteers virtual wings and, after just a couple of hours, the participants began processing those wings as if they were actual body parts. The study focused on the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC), a region that evolved to visually recognize human appendages like hands and feet.
Conducted by teams at Beijing Normal University and Peking University in China, the experiment involved 25 volunteers who wore VR for four 30-minute sessions over a week. In the virtual world, the wings replaced their arms, and the participants performed flying exercises such as navigating through rings.
fMRI scans taken before and after training revealed that the OTC rewired itself: it reacted more strongly to images of the wings, and the neural pattern for wings became more similar to the pattern for human arms, especially in the right side of the brain. The OTC also strengthened communication with frontoparietal regions responsible for planning movement.
While the brain didn’t fully replace the concept of arms with wings, the shift is significant. Unlike tools or prosthetics, which the brain treats as external objects, VR seems to blur the line between self and simulated appendage. Researchers believe this neuroplasticity could aid therapies for amputees and enhance understanding of how virtual experiences reshape human cognition.