Welcome to Brain Voyage XR

     Learning neuroanatomy can be intimidating - for a good reason. Containing about one hundred billion neurons and a quadrillion connections, neuroscientists Green and colleagues (1998) estimated that the human brain is the most complex structure on Earth, whether natural or constructed. Unsurprisingly, visualizing its structure is a challenge. Clinicians and neuroscientists rely on displays with at least three 2D slices through the brain to navigate it properly, and it takes experience to interpret these correctly. Students who are new to neuroanatomy need something more intuitive.
     Developed with the support of a Higher Ed XR grant from Unity and Meta, Brain Voyage XR is a 3D game for learning introductory neuroanatomy. The game aligns with the Biopsychology section of the OpenStax, open-access Introduction to Psychology textbook (access it here).
     After studying this lesson, use the game to test your knowledge of functional neuroanatomy. The game centers around Shawn, a plucky Schwann cell who yearns to see the world beyond his home in the auditory nerve. But he doesn't belong in the brain. Use your knowledge of functional neuroanatomy to search for him and send him back home. And you don't need to play alone! Stream your gameplay to a TV or computer monitor to play with a partner or group of friends who can help you by reading and accessing diagrams from other sources, like web pages, textbooks, or brain atlases.
     Brain Voyage XR is free and can be played on any Meta VR headset. At this time, it has been tested on the Quest 2 and 3. It's implemented in passthrough mode, so you can see the world around you (and your friends). You can use either controllers or hand-tracking.

Step 1: Download the game from Sidequest or the Meta Store.

Step 2: Install it on your Quest VR headset. If using Sidequest, follow their instructions for APK installation.

Step 3: Study your neuroanatomy from the Biopsychology section of OpenStax Psychology.

Step 4 (optional): Stream your gameplay to a TV or computer monitor to play with a friend who can give you hints.

Step 5: Start the game!

Step 6: Choose your level of difficulty. On Easy mode, you have six attempts per brain structure. On Medium difficulty, you have three, and on Hard, you only get one try.