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Seeing an Embodied Virtual Hand is Analgesic Contingent on Colocation.
Birgit Nierula1, Matteo Martini1, Marta Matamala-Gomez1
1Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain; Event-Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
The Journal of Pain
|January 22, 2017
Summary
Seeing a virtual body reduces pain, but only when it is colocated with your real body. Increasing the distance between virtual and real limbs eliminates this pain relief, explaining previous research discrepancies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pain Management
- Virtual Reality
Background:
- Visual perception of one's own body can induce analgesia.
- Analgesia is also observed when viewing a virtual body colocated with the real body.
- Controversy exists regarding pain modulation with illusory body ownership, potentially due to body part distance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the distance between real and virtual body parts influences pain modulation.
- To resolve controversy regarding the analgesic effect of illusory body ownership.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a virtual reality paradigm to assess heat pain thresholds.
- Compared pain thresholds at virtual and real arm colocation versus a 30-cm distance.
- Employed a virtual body embodiment paradigm.
Main Results:
- Heat pain thresholds were significantly higher when the virtual arm was colocated with the real arm.
- Increasing the distance to 30 cm eliminated the analgesic effect of the virtual arm.
- The findings suggest distance is critical for virtual body-induced analgesia.
Conclusions:
- Colocation of real and virtual body parts is essential for achieving analgesic effects.
- The distance between real and virtual limbs explains discrepancies in previous studies on illusory ownership and pain.
- Virtual reality holds potential for pain management, contingent on body part colocation.
