The virtual world Second Life is popular among disabled people, many of whose limitations in the real world appear nonexistent in the digital environment. Assuming alter-egos, they can fly, run, dance, and socialize without people perceiving them as different.
Now it looks as if people with serious physical disabilities who are unable to explore a virtual world because they can’t manipulate a computer mouse or give voice to a digital character may still be able to immerse themselves in Second Life.
Researchers at the Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, in Japan, have created a brain-computer interface that allows people to use their thoughts to control the movements of their Second Life avatars. A user dons a headpiece equipped with electrodes that monitor activity in a region of the brain that controls the movement of limbs. When a user thinks about moving his own feet, the avatar walk forward. When a user thinks about moving his arms either right or left, the avatar turns that way.—Andrea L. Foster
