NewScientist 14 November 2009
Me, Myself, and my avatar.
WHEN you slip into the skin of an avatar what does your brain make of your virtual self?
To find out, Kristina Caudle at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, asked 15 veterans of the online game World of Warcraft to rate how well words such as "intelligent" and "jealous" described themselves, their avatars, their best friends and their WoW guild leader, while having their brains scanned.
The two regions that lit up most during thoughts of self showed similar activity when people thought of their avatar to when they thought of their real selves. This may be why virtual worlds are so riveting, says Caudle, who presented the work at a Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.
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