Virtual Reality Triggers Anticipatory Immune Response With Plans for Vaccine Priming Trials

Your Immune System Kicks Into High Gear at the Mere Sight of a Sick Person

By the time someone sneezy and pale walks into the room, your body’s immune system is already on high alert. A new study published in Nature Neuroscience reveals that our brains don’t wait for pathogens to appear in the body before activating their defenses. Your body begins to defend itself the moment your eyes and brain detect a sick person. If the images supplied by the researchers are any indication of the faces participants saw in VR, it do…

The Mere Sight of Someone Sick Triggers an Immune Response, Study Suggests

Researchers equipped study participants with virtual reality headsets and observed how their brains and immune systems reacted to avatars with signs of illness

Brains React to Signs of Illness—Even When It’s Not Real

When people viewed virtual avatars with coughs or rashes, their brain triggered an immune response

Perceived sickness activates real immune responses

Findings indicate the brain's anticipatory response to virtual infections activates immune mechanisms, showcasing the link between neuroscience and immunity.

Anticipation of a virtual infectious pathogen is enough to prompt real biological defenses

Researchers led by the University of Geneva and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne report that neural anticipation of virtual infection triggers an immune response through activation of innate lymphoid cells.