scholarly journals Manipulating the Perceived Shape and Color of a Virtual Limb Can Modulate Pain Responses

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Matamala-Gomez ◽  
Birgit Nierula ◽  
Tony Donegan ◽  
Mel Slater ◽  
Maria V. Sanchez-Vives
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Normal Control ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
Threatening Stimulus ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Distorted Body Image ◽  
Healthy Participants ◽  
Different Levels

Changes in body representation may affect pain perception. The effect of a distorted body image, such as the telescoping effect in amputee patients, on pain perception, is unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether distorting an embodied virtual arm in virtual reality (simulating the telescoping effect in amputees) modulated pain perception and anticipatory responses to pain in healthy participants. Twenty-seven right-handed participants were immersed in virtual reality and the virtual arm was shown with three different levels of distortion with a virtual threatening stimulus either approaching or contacting the virtual hand. We evaluated pain/discomfort ratings, ownership, and skin conductance responses (SCRs) after each condition. Viewing a distorted virtual arm enhances the SCR to a threatening event with respect to viewing a normal control arm, but when viewing a reddened-distorted virtual arm, SCR was comparatively reduced in response to the threat. There was a positive relationship between the level of ownership over the distorted and reddened-distorted virtual arms with the level of pain/discomfort, but not in the normal control arm. Contact with the threatening stimulus significantly enhances SCR and pain/discomfort, while reduced SCR and pain/discomfort were seen in the simulated-contact condition. These results provide further evidence of a bi-directional link between body image and pain perception.

scholarly journals Seeing pain and pleasure on self and others: behavioral and psychophysiological reactivity in immersive virtual reality

2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 2656-2662 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fusaro ◽  
G. Tieri ◽  
S. M. Aglioti
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Physiological Reactivity ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Psychophysiological Reactivity ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Physiological Indexes ◽  
Healthy Participants

Studies have explored behavioral and neural responses to the observation of pain in others. However, much less is known about how taking a physical perspective influences reactivity to the observation of others' pain and pleasure. To explore this issue we devised a novel paradigm in which 24 healthy participants immersed in a virtual reality scenario observed a virtual: needle penetrating (pain), caress (pleasure), or ball touching (neutral) the hand of an avatar seen from a first (1PP)- or a third (3PP)-person perspective. Subjective ratings and physiological responses [skin conductance responses (SCR) and heart rate (HR)] were collected in each trial. All participants reported strong feelings of ownership of the virtual hand only in 1PP. Subjective measures also showed that pain and pleasure were experienced as more salient than neutral. SCR analysis demonstrated higher reactivity in 1PP than in 3PP. Importantly, vicarious pain induced stronger responses with respect to the other conditions in both perspectives. HR analysis revealed equally lower activity during pain and pleasure with respect to neutral. SCR may reflect egocentric perspective, and HR may merely index general arousal. The results suggest that behavioral and physiological indexes of reactivity to seeing others' pain and pleasure were qualitatively similar in 1PP and 3PP. Our paradigm indicates that virtual reality can be used to study vicarious sensation of pain and pleasure without actually delivering any stimulus to participants' real body and to explore behavioral and physiological reactivity when they observe pain and pleasure from ego- and allocentric perspectives.

scholarly journals Gamification and Hazard Communication in Virtual Reality: A Qualitative Study

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4663
Author(s):  
Janaina Cavalcanti ◽  
Victor Valls ◽  
Manuel Contero ◽  
David Fonseca
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Training Environment ◽  
Hazard Communication ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Compliance Behavior ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Recorded Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Levels

An effective warning attracts attention, elicits knowledge, and enables compliance behavior. Game mechanics, which are directly linked to human desires, stand out as training, evaluation, and improvement tools. Immersive virtual reality (VR) facilitates training without risk to participants, evaluates the impact of an incorrect action/decision, and creates a smart training environment. The present study analyzes the user experience in a gamified virtual environment of risks using the HTC Vive head-mounted display. The game was developed in the Unreal game engine and consisted of a walk-through maze composed of evident dangers and different signaling variables while user action data were recorded. To demonstrate which aspects provide better interaction, experience, perception and memory, three different warning configurations (dynamic, static and smart) and two different levels of danger (low and high) were presented. To properly assess the impact of the experience, we conducted a survey about personality and knowledge before and after using the game. We proceeded with the qualitative approach by using questions in a bipolar laddering assessment that was compared with the recorded data during the game. The findings indicate that when users are engaged in VR, they tend to test the consequences of their actions rather than maintaining safety. The results also reveal that textual signal variables are not accessed when users are faced with the stress factor of time. Progress is needed in implementing new technologies for warnings and advance notifications to improve the evaluation of human behavior in virtual environments of high-risk surroundings.

The Role of Hand Size in the Fake-Hand Illusion Paradigm

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5853 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 1547-1554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pavani ◽  
Massimiliano Zampini
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Video Image ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Statistical Correlations ◽  
Hand Size ◽  
Visible Hand

When a hand (either real or fake) is stimulated in synchrony with our own hand concealed from view, the felt position of our own hand can be biased toward the location of the seen hand. This intriguing phenomenon relies on the brain's ability to detect statistical correlations in the multisensory inputs (ie visual, tactile, and proprioceptive), but it is also modulated by the pre-existing representation of one's own body. Nonetheless, researchers appear to have accepted the assumption that the size of the seen hand does not matter for this illusion to occur. Here we used a real-time video image of the participant's own hand to elicit the illusion, but we varied the hand size in the video image so that the seen hand was either reduced, veridical, or enlarged in comparison to the participant's own hand. The results showed that visible-hand size modulated the illusion, which was present for veridical and enlarged images of the hand, but absent when the visible hand was reduced. These findings indicate that very specific aspects of our own body image (ie hand size) can constrain the multisensory modulation of the body schema highlighted by the fake-hand illusion paradigm. In addition, they suggest an asymmetric tendency to acknowledge enlarged (but not reduced) images of body parts within our body representation.

scholarly journals Presence Effects in Virtual Reality Based on User Characteristics: Attention, Enjoyment, and Memory

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1051
Author(s):  
Si Jung Kim ◽  
Teemu H. Laine ◽  
Hae Jung Suk
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
User Characteristics ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Different Levels

Presence refers to the emotional state of users where their motivation for thinking and acting arises based on the perception of the entities in a virtual world. The immersion level of users can vary when they interact with different media content, which may result in different levels of presence especially in a virtual reality (VR) environment. This study investigates how user characteristics, such as gender, immersion level, and emotional valence on VR, are related to the three elements of presence effects (attention, enjoyment, and memory). A VR story was created and used as an immersive stimulus in an experiment, which was presented through a head-mounted display (HMD) equipped with an eye tracker that collected the participants’ eye gaze data during the experiment. A total of 53 university students (26 females, 27 males), with an age range from 20 to 29 years old (mean 23.8), participated in the experiment. A set of pre- and post-questionnaires were used as a subjective measure to support the evidence of relationships among the presence effects and user characteristics. The results showed that user characteristics, such as gender, immersion level, and emotional valence, affected their level of presence, however, there is no evidence that attention is associated with enjoyment or memory.

Immersive and Non-Immersive Virtual Reality Distraction on Pain Perception to Intraoral Injections

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 389-394
Author(s):  
Supriya Kumari ◽  
Rachana Bahuguna ◽  
Nishita Garg ◽  
Ramakrishna Yeluri
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Dental Treatment ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Dental Procedures ◽  
Group I ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Group Ii ◽  
Chi Square Analysis

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of immersive VR (IVR) and non-immersive VR (NIVR) distraction on perceived pain during intraoral injections in children undergoing dental procedures. The objective was to introduce 3-dimensional nature of virtual reality during the provoking phase of dental treatment as a means of distraction in children. Study design: A total of 200 children were selected for the study, 100 for IVR group and 100 for NIVR group. After randomization, children were introduced to Oculus Go Standalone equipment; MCDAS (f), VAS, WBFRS and the treatment procedure using tell show do technique. Group I children were introduced to oculus go standalone headset with hand held controller to play temple run or roller coaster game while in group II, children watched cartoon movies of their choice. Pre-operative & post-operative MCDAS scores were obtained using MCDAS (f) questionnaire in local language. Post-operatively, VAS and WBFRS scores were also obtained. The data was analyzed using independent t-test and chi-square analysis. Results: Pre-operatively, the mean MCDAS scores were similar in both the groups viz. Group–I (29.20 ± 3.197) and Group–II (29.09 ± 3.803) and is statistically not significant. Post-operatively, the mean MCDAS scores were higher in non-immersive group (20.72 ± 2.822) as compared to immersive group (10.99 ± 2.227). VAS score was higher in non-immersive group (2.72 ± 0.99) as compared to immersive group (0.75 ± 0.88). WBFRS scores were higher in non-immersive group (2.78 ± 1.097) as compared to immersive group (0.82 ± 1.104). Conclusion: Three-dimensional virtual reality was found to be an effective means of distraction in children undergoing dental procedures and especially during the provoking phase. The significant difference obtained clearly indicates irrespective of immersiveness of virtual reality, anxiety had been decreased and on comparison the pain perception to intraoral injection is less in immersive virtual reality environment. Immersive VR distraction technique can serve as an adjunct to traditional behavior management strategies already available to the pediatric dentist.

scholarly journals Distorted body image influences body schema in individuals with negative bodily attitudes

2019 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 38-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamila R. Irvine ◽  
Kristofor McCarty ◽  
Kirsten J. McKenzie ◽  
Thomas V. Pollet ◽  
Katri K. Cornelissen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
Distorted Body Image

scholarly journals Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Virtual Reality in Mental Healthcare: Effects of Full Body Illusions on Body Image Disturbance

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collin Turbyne ◽  
Abe Goedhart ◽  
Pelle de Koning ◽  
Frederike Schirmbeck ◽  
Damiaan Denys
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clinical Utility ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Full Body ◽  
Virtual Body ◽  
Clinical Populations

Background: Body image (BI) disturbances have been identified in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Virtual reality (VR) has recently been used as a tool for modulating BI disturbances through the use of eliciting a full body illusion (FBI). This meta-analysis is the first to collate evidence on the effectiveness of an FBI to reduce BI disturbances in both clinical and non-clinical populations.Methods: We performed a literature search in MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, PsychINFO, and Web of Science with the keywords and synonyms for “virtual reality” and “body image” to identify published studies until September 2020. We included studies that (1) created an FBI with a modified body shape or size and (2) reported BI disturbance outcomes both before and directly after the FBI. FBI was defined as a head-mounted display (HMD)-based simulation of embodying a virtual body from an egocentric perspective in an immersive 3D computer-generated environment.Results: Of the 398 identified unique studies, 13 were included after reading full-texts. Four of these studies were eligible for a meta-analysis on BI distortion inducing a small virtual body FBI in healthy females. Significant post-intervention results were found for estimations of shoulder width, hip width, and abdomen width, with the largest reductions in size being the estimation of shoulder circumference (SMD = −1.3; 95% CI: −2.2 to −0.4; p = 0.004) and hip circumference (SMD = −1.0; 95% CI: −1.6 to −0.4; p = 0.004). Mixed results were found in non-aggregated studies from large virtual body FBIs in terms of both estimated body size and BI dissatisfaction and in small virtual body FBI in terms of BI dissatisfaction.Conclusions: The findings presented in this paper suggest that the participants' BIs were able to conform to both an increased as well as a reduced virtual body size. However, because of the paucity of research in this field, the extent of the clinical utility of FBIs still remains unclear. In light of these limitations, we provide implications for future research about the clinical utility of FBIs for modulating BI-related outcomes.

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