Mimicking Schizophrenia: Reducing P300b by Minimally Fragmenting Healthy Participants’ Selves Using Immersive Virtual Reality Embodiment

Aim: Evidence has revealed a relationship between pain and the observation of limb movement, but it is unknown whether different types of movements have diverse modulating effects. In this immersive virtual reality study, we explored the effect of the vision of different virtual arm movements (arm vs wrist) on heat pain threshold of healthy participants. Patients & methods: 40 healthy participants underwent four conditions in virtual reality, while heat pain thresholds were measured. Visuo–tactile stimulation was used to attempt to modulate the feeling of virtual limb ownership while the participants kept their arms still. Results: Effects on pain threshold were present for type of stimulation but not type of movement. Conclusion: The type of observed movement does not appear to influence pain modulation, at least not during acute pain states.

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The impact of exposure to immersive virtual reality on spatiotemporal gait parameters in healthy participants: a preliminary study

Gait & Posture ◽

10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.07.348 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 73 ◽

pp. 577-578

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Gait Parameters ◽

Preliminary Study ◽

The Impact ◽

Healthy Participants

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

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00489.2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 116 (6) ◽

pp. 2656-2662 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

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.

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Congruency of Information Rather Than Body Ownership Enhances Motor Performance in Highly Embodied Virtual Reality

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2021.678909 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Ingrid A. Odermatt ◽

Karin A. Buetler ◽

Nicolas Wenk ◽

Özhan Özen ◽

Joaquin Penalver-Andres ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Motor Performance ◽

Motor Task ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Body Ownership ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Motor Tasks ◽

Immersive Virtual Environments ◽

Skin Response ◽

Healthy Participants

In immersive virtual reality, the own body is often visually represented by an avatar. This may induce a feeling of body ownership over the virtual limbs. Importantly, body ownership and the motor system share neural correlates. Yet, evidence on the functionality of this neuroanatomical coupling is still inconclusive. Findings from previous studies may be confounded by the congruent vs. incongruent multisensory stimulation used to modulate body ownership. This study aimed to investigate the effect of body ownership and congruency of information on motor performance in immersive virtual reality. We aimed to modulate body ownership by providing congruent vs. incongruent visuo-tactile stimulation (i.e., participants felt a brush stroking their real fingers while seeing a virtual brush stroking the same vs. different virtual fingers). To control for congruency effects, unimodal stimulation conditions (i.e., only visual or tactile) with hypothesized low body ownership were included. Fifty healthy participants performed a decision-making (pressing a button as fast as possible) and a motor task (following a defined path). Body ownership was assessed subjectively with established questionnaires and objectively with galvanic skin response (GSR) when exposed to a virtual threat. Our results suggest that congruency of information may decrease reaction times and completion time of motor tasks in immersive virtual reality. Moreover, subjective body ownership is associated with faster reaction times, whereas its benefit on motor task performance needs further investigation. Therefore, it might be beneficial to provide congruent information in immersive virtual environments, especially during the training of motor tasks, e.g., in neurorehabilitation interventions.

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Immersive virtual reality during gait rehabilitation increases walking speed and motivation: a usability evaluation with healthy participants and patients with multiple sclerosis and stroke

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation ◽

10.1186/s12984-021-00848-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Carla Winter ◽

Florian Kern ◽

Dominik Gall ◽

Marc Erich Latoschik ◽

Paul Pauli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Virtual Reality ◽

Side Effects ◽

Walking Speed ◽

Treadmill Training ◽

Gait Rehabilitation ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Head Mounted Display ◽

Healthy Participants

Abstract Background The rehabilitation of gait disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and stroke is often based on conventional treadmill training. Virtual reality (VR)-based treadmill training can increase motivation and improve therapy outcomes. The present study evaluated an immersive virtual reality application (using a head-mounted display, HMD) for gait rehabilitation with patients to (1) demonstrate its feasibility and acceptance and to (2) compare its short-term effects to a semi-immersive presentation (using a monitor) and a conventional treadmill training without VR to assess the usability of both systems and estimate the effects on walking speed and motivation. Methods In a within-subjects study design, 36 healthy participants and 14 persons with MS or stroke participated in each of the three experimental conditions (VR via HMD, VR via monitor, treadmill training without VR). Results For both groups, the walking speed in the HMD condition was higher than in treadmill training without VR and in the monitor condition. Healthy participants reported a higher motivation after the HMD condition as compared with the other conditions. Importantly, no side effects in the sense of simulator sickness occurred and usability ratings were high. No increases in heart rate were observed following the VR conditions. Presence ratings were higher for the HMD condition compared with the monitor condition for both user groups. Most of the healthy study participants (89%) and patients (71%) preferred the HMD-based training among the three conditions and most patients could imagine using it more frequently. Conclusions For the first time, the present study evaluated the usability of an immersive VR system for gait rehabilitation in a direct comparison with a semi-immersive system and a conventional training without VR with healthy participants and patients. The study demonstrated the feasibility of combining a treadmill training with immersive VR. Due to its high usability and low side effects, it might be particularly suited for patients to improve training motivation and training outcome e. g. the walking speed compared with treadmill training using no or only semi-immersive VR. Immersive VR systems still require specific technical setup procedures. This should be taken into account for specific clinical use-cases during a cost–benefit assessment.

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