Progression

Twenty-five volunteers put on VR headsets, moved their arms and twisted their wrists. On screen, feathered wings moved in response. Within a few sessions, they were learning to “fly.”

After a week of VR flight training, the volunteers’ brains changed how they reacted to wings. A visual area in the brain that usually helps recognize body parts began responding more strongly to wing images, and neural activity patterns identified with using wings in VR became more similar to those for arms. The result suggests that the brain’s body map can be pushed, at least a little, by experiences that exist only in a headset.