Heat pain modulation with virtual water during a virtual hand illusion.

ABSTRACT: Immersive virtual reality is a powerful method to modify the environment and thereby influence experience. The present study used a virtual hand illusion and context manipulation in immersive virtual reality to examine top-down modulation of pain. Participants received painful heat stimuli on their forearm and placed an embodied virtual hand (co-located with their real one) under a virtual water tap, which dispensed virtual water under different experimental conditions. We aimed to induce a temperature illusion by a red, blue or white light suggesting warm, cold or no virtual water. In addition, the sense of agency was manipulated by allowing participants to have high or low control over the virtual hand's movements. Most participants experienced a thermal sensation in response to the virt

SUBMITTER: Kathner I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6911006 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature