(Wired) How to use nueroscience to become your avatar

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This one article looks particularly interesting in terms of psychology, and tele-presence applications.http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/vr-goggles-and.html

How to Use Neuroscience to Become Your AvatarBy is Madrigal EmailDecember 02, 2008 | 7:01:56 PMCategories: Body, Simulations, Web/Tech

[iMAGE OMITTED]Research subjects fitted with goggles that stream video from cameras strapped to another person (or mannequin) can experience that body as their own, neuroscientists say.And not just in a fluffy, philosophical way: the subjects experienced measurable physiological changes, as reported in the open-access journal Public Library of Science One.

The paper's authors argue that their work could prove important for future human-robot collaborations — and give hope to those dreaming of uploading their brains after the Singularity. What the researchers have found, they say, is a method for allowing humans to better inhabit non-flesh-and-blood consciousness.

" The present findings could have groundbreaking industrial and clinical applications " write neuroscientists Valeria I. Petkova and H. Henrik Ehrsson of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. " Experiencing 'becoming' a humanoid robot in tele-robotics and feeling ownership of simulated bodies in virtual reality applications would probably enhance user control, realism, and the feeling of 'presence.' "

The gaming industry is already taking steps down that road with Mirror's Edge, which lets players see other parts of their virtual body in motion producing a sensation real enough to induce carsickness.While the research might be biological, the ability to make headway on this centuries-old problem is technological. The development of light-weight head-mounted displays that are capable of displaying real-time video is the key advance in creating this curious body-swapping illusion. The research follows a slate of publications by the same Swedish group and another European team on generating out-of-body experiences using video and virtual reality tools.

" These experiments have demonstrated how remarkably easy it is to 'move' a human centre of awareness from one body to another, " they write. " This speaks directly to the classical question of the relationship between human consciousness and the body, which has been discussed by philosophers, psychologists, and theologians for centuries. "

Taken together, they show how our Stone Age brains — and the bodily boundaries they are used to — can be confused by technology that has outpaced our evolutionary development. In particular, Ehrsson has said that his previous work using displays and live camera feeds indicate that our brains are tuned to believe what our eyes tell us is our body.

" The first-person visual perspective is critically important for the in-body experience, " Ehrsson told the BBC. " In other words, we feel that our self is located where the eyes are. " In the first experiment, the research subject put on the augmented reality glasses and was told to look down. At the same time, video was beamed into the glasses' displays from a camera attached to the head of a mannequin. In short, the study participant was looking in the direction of his or her own stomach, but actually seeing the stomach of the mannequin.

At that moment, the person conducting the experiment would rub both the stomach of the mannequin and of the research subject. Subjects reported that they felt as if they were feeling the touch on the mannequin.

After a minute of this touching, the researchers threatened the abdomen of the mannequin with a knife while administering a common physiological stress test. The test measured a jump in the physiological stress the subject's were undergoing, which the researchers said implied that they had taken psychological ownership of the mannequin.

In a separate set of experiments, people shook hands with another person for two minutes while seeing the view from a camera attached to the other person's head. Incredibly, the study's participants experienced more stress when the other person's hand was threatened with a knife than when his or her own were.

These experiments provide even more evidence for the argument that Ehrsson has been making for several years. Vision — not just tactile sense — plays a major role in our sense of where our bodies end and the environment begins.

" Thus, the matching of multisensory and motor signals from the first person perspective is sufficient to create a full sense of ownership of one's own entire body, " the authors conclude. " This conclusion certainly contrasts with the traditional textbook wisdom which emphasises that body perception is a direct result of bottom-up processing of afferent signals from muscles, joints and skin. "

Citation: " If I Were You: Perceptual Illusion of Body Swapping " by Valeria I. Petkova, H. Henrik Ehrsson. Public Library of Science One: doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003832See Also: * Eye Flicker Explains 'Enigma' Optical Illusion

* Rubber Hand Trick Reveals Brain-Body Link * The Best Visual Illusion of the Year * Better Balance Through Virtual Reality * Short Film Illustrates Military Augumented CognitionWiSci 2.0: is Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed, and webpage; Wired Science on Facebook.