VR may strengthen your brain waves – and be an effective Alzheimer’s treatment
A new study on rats demonstrated how virtual reality strengthened crucial ‘theta waves’ in the hippocampus
Virtual reality can boost brain activity that may be crucial for learning, memory and even treating Alzheimer’s, ADHD and depression, a study on rats has found.
After monitoring the animals’ brain activity with tiny electrodes, researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) discovered electrical activity in a region known as the hippocampus differed depending on whether the rodents were placed in real-world or virtual reality (VR) environments. (Before you ask: no, the rats weren’t fitted with tiny VR headsets. They were placed on a small moving track surrounded by screens.) The new findings are significant as the hippocampus is a primary driver of learning and memory, including spatial navigation, in the brain.
When rats walk around in real life, electrical activity in the hippocampus neurons appears to synchronise, at a rate of eight pulses per second (8Hz). Pulses at this frequency are generally known as ‘theta waves’, with stronger theta waves seeming to improve the brain’s ability to learn and retain sensory information. When placed in a VR environment, the rat’s theta waves became considerably stronger.
“It turns out that amazing things happen when the rat is in virtual reality,” said Prof Mayank Mehta from the Center for Neurophysics at UCLA. “We were blown away when we saw this huge effect of VR experience on theta rhythm enhancement.” The scientists also found that VR environments altered different electrical rhythms in different parts of the neurons. “That was really mind-blowing,” Mehta said. “Two different parts of the neuron are going in their own rhythm.”
More interestingly, this new brain rhythm (which the UCLA scientists dubbed ‘eta’) was also strengthened in the VR environment.
All this indicates that scientists may be able to manipulate human brain rhythms in VR – not only to boost learning, but also to treat memory-related disorders including ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and depression. “This is a new technology that has tremendous potential,” Mehta said. “We’ve entered a new territory.” The study also indicates why VR may encourage these
unique brain waves. A big part of it, Mehta theorises, may be down to the very different set of stimuli presented in VR.
For instance, imagine that you’re approaching a doorway in real life. Your eyes see the door getting larger. But how do you know that you’re moving forward and the door isn’t coming to you? The answer is that your brain
uses information such as the acceleration of your head through space or the shift of weight from one foot to the other – information that may not be present during a VR experience.
“Our brain is constantly doing this, it’s checking all kinds of things,” Mehta said, adding that different theta rhythms may represent how brain regions communicate with each other to process this information.