Embodiment and Virtual Reality: When the Body Enters the Digital World
Embodiment and Virtual Reality: When the Body Enters the Digital World
First-Person Consciousness — Brain Bee Style
I’ve always found it strange how my body reacts inside Virtual Reality.
Even when I know it’s “not real,”
my body behaves as if it is.
My balance shifts,
my breathing changes,
my muscles respond to every visual detail.
It was only when I started reading recent studies on embodiment that this became clear:
The brain doesn’t ask if something is real.
It asks if my body needs to respond.
And when the answer is “yes,”
it creates a tensional self for that world—
even if that world is purely digital.
1. Embodiment is not a metaphor: it’s physiology
The study I analyzed this week shows something powerful:
When I’m in VR,
my sensorimotor networks reorganize as if my body were truly inside that space.
This means that:
my posture recalibrates,
my center of mass shifts,
my bodily projection extends into the scene,
and my motor predictions enter a kind of “digital Apus.”
The body enters the virtual scene,
even though that scene doesn’t exist physically.
2. The body creates a “digital tensional self”
The research suggests that, inside VR, the brain generates:
a tensional self that doesn’t exist in the physical world,
but fully exists in the virtual one.
This digital tensional self is built from:
proprioception artificially re-mapped,
interoception modulated by visual input,
anticipatory micromuscular corrections,
and movement prediction based on what I see.
In other words:
embodiment is the brain expanding the body into a space that is not its own.
3. Zone 2 can emerge even in digital environments
The most fascinating part of the study is this:
When the simulation is stable, coherent, and immersive,
the body enters a kind of Digital Zone 2:
deep attention,
rhythmic breathing,
slightly increased CO₂ and prefrontal blood flow,
sustained focus,
a sense of presence,
fruition.
It’s the same mechanism as physical Zone 2,
but now triggered by an artificial environment.
This confirms that:
Zone 2 does not depend on the “real world”;
it depends on coherence between body and stimulus.
4. When VR fails → the body falls into Zone 3
If the virtual environment is incoherent, laggy, too fast, or poorly designed:
posture collapses,
balance becomes unstable,
breathing shortens,
the body goes into defense mode.
This is Digital Zone 3:
a narrow, unstable, stressful perception—
exactly like in the physical world when there is threat.
This reaction is final proof that:
the brain does not react to what is objectively real;
it reacts to what the body perceives as real.
5. Digital Apus: when the body’s anticipation is hacked
VR acts directly on what we call Apus —
extended proprioception.
In VR, the body:
prepares for falls that never happen,
feels movements that never occurred,
stabilizes the trunk for impacts that will not come,
adjusts breathing to speeds that are only visual.
This is living evidence that:
cognition is anticipatory movement,
not a replay of what has already happened.
6. First-person conclusion — The body always enters first
After diving into this study, I see that:
there is no such thing as a purely mental experience.
Every experience is bodily,
even when it happens in the digital realm.
Embodiment is the body saying to the world:
“If you give me enough cues,
I will enter.”
And VR makes this visible in the clearest way:
my body builds tensional selves, zones, perceptions, and decisions
even when the world is only an algorithm.
Scientific Reference Supporting This Blog
(Highlighted following the pattern of recent scientific publications)
This blog is grounded in findings from a post-2020 study on embodiment, sensorimotor processing, and Virtual Reality, showing how the brain reorganizes bodily networks in response to coherent digital environments.
Highlighted reference:
“The embodied brain in virtual environments: neural, sensorimotor and cognitive mechanisms of presence and body ownership.”
The study shows that:
VR recruits sensorimotor networks in a way that closely resembles physical-world engagement;
the sense of presence emerges from predictive coherence between body and environment;
physiological and neural states equivalent to Zone 2 can arise within virtual scenarios;
breakdowns in simulation coherence induce defensive patterns equivalent to Zone 3;
the body constructs “digital tensional selves,” directly supporting our notions of Apus and an extended Damasian Mind.
fNIRS + Machine Learning: Nuevos Caminos para Diagnósticos Vivos
fNIRS + Machine Learning: New Pathways for Living Diagnostics
fNIRS + Machine Learning: Novos Caminhos para Diagnósticos Vivos
fNIRS-BCI en Clínica: Cuando el Cerebro Aprende a Hablar con la Máquina
fNIRS-BCI in Clinical Settings: When the Brain Learns to Speak to the Machine
fNIRS-BCI em Clínica: Quando o Cérebro Aprende a Falar com a Máquina
La Versatilidad del (f)NIRS: Del Laboratorio al Mundo Vivo
The Versatility of (f)NIRS: From the Laboratory to the Living World
Versatilidade do (f)NIRS: Do Laboratório ao Mundo Real
La Mente Damasiana, la Zona 2 y la Arquitectura de la Atención Sostenida
The Damasian Mind, Zone 2, and the Architecture of Sustained Attention
Mente Damasiana, Zona 2 e a Arquitetura da Atenção Sustentada
Estados Corporificados de la Conciencia Musical
Embodied States of Musical Consciousness
Estados Corporificados de Consciência Musical
Embodiment y Realidad Virtual: Cuando el Cuerpo Entra en lo Digital
Embodiment and Virtual Reality: When the Body Enters the Digital World
Embodiment e Realidade Virtual: O Corpo que Entra no Digital
Empatía y Sincronía Cerebral: Cuando Dos Cuerpos Crean Un Solo Ritmo
Empathy and Brain Synchrony: When Two Bodies Create One Rhythm
Empatia e Sincronia de Cérebros: Quando Dois Corpos Criam Um Ritmo
Neurocorrelatos de la Cognición en Tiempo Real
Neurocorrelates of Real-Time Cognition
Neurocorrelatos da Cognição em Tempo Real
Cuando el Tacto Aprende Quién Soy: Háptica Neuroadaptativa y el Cuerpo que Entrena a la Tecnología
When Touch Learns Who I Am: Neuroadaptive Haptics and the Body That Trains Technology
Quando o Toque Aprende Quem Eu Sou: Háptica Neuroadaptativa e o Corpo que Treina a Tecnologia
Flexibilidad Cognitiva: Cuando el Cerebro Regresa para Reescribir su Propio Guion
Cognitive Flexibility: When the Brain Returns to Rewrite Its Own Script
Flexibilidade Cognitiva: Quando o Cérebro Retorna para Corrigir o Próprio Roteiro
When the Body Teaches the Mind: Exergames, Cognitive Load, and Tensional Selves in Aging
Cuando la IA Aprende a Leernos: Chatbots Neuroadaptativos y los “Yo Tensionales” Digitales
When AI Learns to Read Us: Neuroadaptive Chatbots and Digital Tensional Selves
Quando a IA Aprende a nos Ler: Neuroadaptive Chatbots e os Eus Tensionais Digitais
Decolonial Neuroscience sfn NIRS fNIRS EEG ERP BCI
#Decolonial
#Neuroscience
#fNIRS #NIRS
#NIRSEEG #SfN
#EEG #ERP
#NeuroAI
#BrainResearch
#MachineLearning
#BCIresearch
#HybridBCI
#DamasianMind
#Interoception
#SustainedAttention
#AttentionalStates
#TensionalSelf
#Embodiment
#EmbodiedCognition
#Hyperscanning
#NeuroHaptics
#AffectiveComputing
#Neuroplasticity
#DREXcidadão
