Ya.A. Chernyshova1, A.N. Tychkova2, Z.M. Yuldashev3, O.I. Simakov4, V.N. Gorbunov5, V.N. Zolotarev6

1, 2, 4 Penza State University (Penza, Russia)
3 St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University (St. Petersburg, Russia)
5, 6 Technology Transfer Center of the Research Institute of Basic and Applied Research (Penza, Russia)
1 deniska_1980_13@mail.ru, 2 tychkova-anna@mail.ru, 3 yuld@mail.ru, 4 zcsio@mail.ru, 5 ctt@pnzgu.ru, 6 leshiy021178@gmail.com

The mirror neuron system (SPN) plays a key role in understanding the actions, intentions, and emotions of others. However, it remains unclear to what extent virtual reality (VR) is capable of activating the NWN in a similar way to real interactions, which is important for the use of VR in therapy and education.

Work purpose – to develop a methodology for a comparative analysis of the functioning of neural networks in virtual reality and the real world, to assess the degree of activation of mirror neurons in these conditions.

The study showed that the desynchronization of the mu rhythm, a marker of CNN activity, occurs both in the real world and in VR, but in real conditions it is more pronounced, especially in the left hemisphere. In VR, there is less involvement of the right hemisphere, which indicates differences in the processing of virtual and real actions.

The results confirm the potential of VR for therapy and learning, but emphasize the need to optimize immersiveness, for example, through tactile feedback. This opens up prospects for improving VR technologies in medicine and neuroscience.

Chernyshova Ya.A., Tychkova A.N., Yuldashev Z.M., Simakova O.I., Gorbunov V.N., Zolotarev V.N. Comparative analysis of the activity of the mirror neuron system in virtual and real environments. Biomedicine Radioengineering. 2025. V. 28. № 5. P. 40–44. DOI: https:// doi.org/10.18127/j15604136-202505-09 (In Russian)

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