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As indicated by the name, video games are a very visual medium. But that hasn't stopped participants in a study at the University of Washington (UW) successfully playing through a game without ever actually looking at it, hearing it or using any of the standard five senses. Instead, they were guided through virtual mazes via direct brain stimulation, in a demonstration of technology that could one day form the basis of sensory prosthetics to help visually-impaired people navigate the real world, or provide a new way for anyone to interact with virtual ones.
The five players taking part in the UW study interacted with the game through a process known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, where a magnetic coil is placed on the back of the skull to directly stimulate certain parts of the brain safely and painlessly. This technique has shown the potential to treat migraines, aid learning, improve memory and allow direct brain-to-brain communication.
[...] "The way virtual reality is done these days is through displays, headsets and goggles, but ultimately your brain is what creates your reality," says Rajesh Rao, senior author of the study. "The fundamental question we wanted to answer was: can the brain make use of artificial information that it's never seen before that is delivered directly to the brain to navigate a virtual world or do useful tasks without other sensory input? And the answer is yes."
At last we know how Luke was able to counter the drone with the blast shield down: direct brain stimulation.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday December 08 2016, @07:18AM
I don't need to see my balls to play with my balls.
Oh, you poor, deluded gamer. How do you know they are yours? Huh? Just think about it, you could be in a virtual reality, which in itself is not a problem. But how do you know that there are no other sentient beings tapped into the exact same vitual reality, and the balls you think are yours, well, you see where this is going. I seriously suggest you immediately stop playing with your balls, until, as the Donald says, we can figure out what the hell is going on. There is a large probability that they actually are Donald's balls. Only the Secret Service and the NSA could say for sure, and they are not talking. Oh, and there seems to be some kind of spot on the left one. Just saying.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @07:46AM
This one time I was gaming, and I reached for my balls, but my hand slipped, and I found I was grabbing a pussy instead, and I was all like, holy crap! a female gamer! Marry me now!! Turns out she was my sister, so the marriage was off, but we fucked all night.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @08:20AM
How presidential of you.