The avatars in our brains

[Ivanova Shostakovich]

   I've been reading a book about brains. It's an engaging read on how they develop, change over time, and recover from injury, rewiring themselves to overcome emergent deficits, or simply shifting their mapping around subtly during one's lifetime. We all came here for our own reasons. We all stayed here for our own reasons. I would be fascinated to see how the brain of someone might have changed over time as they created their first main avatar, the one that, to whatever degree, became the biggest part of themselves.

   I'd love to see how, when they took this avatar out onto the grid, connecting with it, exploring the world, meeting other people, conversing, playing, and doing all the things we do here, regions of their brain changed and created new connections to other regions. I'd love to see how, when they are driving their avatar through all these activities, their brain lights up differently than when they're interacting in real space, with people and situations both familiar and unfamiliar. I'm curious how their communication skills might have changed, improved and expanded as a result of possibly new methods and routes and combinations thereof of sending and receiving information.

   My sister had a benign brain tumor (benign... pfft)  removed some years ago, in two separate surgeries, the second more successful than the first. It affected a small section of her visual cortex, as well as causing changes to how she reads, how she handles numbers, and how she remembers things. She can't work now. I'd like to see stories about how the use of virtual worlds might have helped people with brain injuries of differing origins.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Ivanova Shostakovich
For consistency of composition.

[Ceka Cianci]

My father told me one time about this guy he worked with that had all his long term memory erased,just like that..

They were putting in an air conditioner in a house that never had central Air..He said his friend/coworker went into the attic to find a line or a box they could junction off of to run their electric outside to the unit they were installing..

He said his coworker had cut into a conduit that was live,that he probably didn't see the same color wires that he had shut off in the breaker box..

So rather than go down and shut the line that he just cut through..He laid over the,now two pieces of conduit and cut the other conduit ..As he was cutting,the other two pieces of conduit cut the live wires and started to electrocute his coworker..

The only way my father knew he was in trouble was,The lights flickered in the house and the main breaker to the house blew..

When My father got up there,He seen his friend laying face down in insulation... He had the customer call 911 and my father went up there and slapped his hand real quick to see if he was still getting juice..

He said he had gotten it so bad that His ears were literally red..

My father thought he was dead at first,then checked and seen he had a heartbeat and actually was breathing..So he gently started to move him to the attic hatch..By that time Paramedics got there and got him down..

My father went to the hospital later..Then said that when his friend came two..He didn't know anyone but his mother..He went right into the fetal position and she was the only one he would communicate with at first..

He didn't know my father or anyone anymore.

He didn't know filler words when he learned to talk..Didn't know to look both ways before crossing the street or even what a car or anything was anymore..

He was like 23 years old and having to restart to know every single thing again..Everything..

But they said because of the size of his brain,that he would learn those things again but at a faster rate..

My father also said that his friend was addicted to cocaine,which is probably why he was lazy about checking the line..But that after the incident ,He didn't even know what was cocain..

His whole personality and everything will have changed when it was all said and done..

 

It was one of the most interesting stories my father ever told us,and he has a lot of pretty wild stories,that's for sure..

 

 

Edited July 7, 2017 by Ceka Cianci

[EmperorNapoleonBonaparte]

The groups you hang out with influence you as a person. If you hang out with bad groups, you are more likely to develop bad habits. Virtual worlds also help develop your strategic skills, so you can find and learn many ways on how to function in the world. They also help improve your social skills because they require you to engage in conversations and improve your vocabulary.

[LittleMe Jewell]

 

42 minutes ago, EmperorNapoleonBonaparte said:

The groups you hang out with influence you as a person. If you hang out with bad groups, you are more likely to develop bad habits.

   I think this is more true when you are young.  As you get older, you likely hang out with bad groups because you already behave badly.

Virtual worlds also help develop your strategic skills, so you can find and learn many ways on how to function in the world.

   While SL has helped me come 'out of my shell' a bit, if a person hasn't actually learned how to function in the RL world by the time they are an adult, then SL is not likely to help much.  It is more likely that their dysfunction will simply carry over into SL.

They also help improve your social skills because they require you to engage in conversations and improve your vocabulary.

   SL doesn't really "require" you to engage in conversations -- I have gone many days inworld not speaking to anyone.  These days, it does not seem to help many people with their vocabulary either.  Group and open chat is filled with people speaking in abbreviated text / Twitter talk.

 

[Ceka Cianci]

I used to love to explore a lot when I first got in sl..

I remember just going into any sim,like those run down ones that the streets look really rough..They always seemed to have the coolest builds with secret places and sewers and stuff like that..

I remember a lot of the times just going in and sitting on a rooftop and just hanging my legs over the edge just looking around..

Sometimes someone from the people hanging down on the street would come up and ask what I was doing..

I'm just relaxing looking around enjoying how neat this place looks..

Then we would talk for a bit and another would come up..Before you knew it everyone was up on the roof and we were hanging out..not a soul on the street..hehehe

I Just think those kinds of times are some of the best..

I liked not knowing a lot of what the world was about,but at the same time I loved learning about something else that we can do in this world that made it just that much better..

To me ,this world really is one of the coolest places on the net..

I learned a lot of things here.. I have no idea where my head would be at if I never found this place..

 

[Ivanova Shostakovich]

32 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I have no idea where my head would be at if I never found this place..

 

   For my own part, even though we don't really know each other, I'm glad you did.

[Talligurl]

1 hour ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

While SL has helped me come 'out of my shell' a bit, if a person hasn't actually learned how to function in the RL world by the time they are an adult, then SL is not likely to help much.  It is more likely that their dysfunction will simply carry over into SL.

For many it seems to be a kind of crutch, they can't function in RL, and instead of figuring that out, they move to SL

[Syo Emerald]

I think I once saw a video where they said that people who have difficulties to do physical activites, like walking or dancing, due to illness or an accident, benefited from letting their avatar do those things, as it activated regions in their brain, that would usually handle those movements.

Thats probably similar to what professional athletes do, when they mentally go through their performance in preparation for training or the actual competetion.

For me, being in SL (along other things) and especially writing in the forum, has had a positive impact on my language skills. I'm much more comfortable expressing myself in English, than others in my age group, who lack regular practice.