Factors influencing the hypoalgesic effects of virtual reality
Immersive VR significantly increased pain tolerance and reduced pain unpleasantness, highlighting immersion in pleasant environments as key to VR’s hypoalgesic effects.
Bayesian integration in sensorimotor learning
This study shows that during sensorimotor learning the brain combines task statistics and sensory uncertainty according to Bayesian principles.
Virtual Reality as a Nonpharmacological Tool for Acute Pain Management: A Scoping Review
VR is a promising nonpharmacological approach for managing acute pain through distraction, potentially complementing or reducing medication needs.
Virtual Reality as a Distraction Intervention to Relieve Pain and Distress During Medical Procedures
This review shows that immersive VR effectively reduces pain and distress during medical procedures, calling for larger long-term randomized studies.
Presence and Cybersickness in Virtual Reality Are Negatively Related: A Review
This review concludes that presence and cybersickness in VR are typically inversely related, driven by sensory integration and mismatch.
The effect of uncertainty on pain decisions for self and others
This study shows that uncertainty shapes decisions about others’ pain, leading to more risk aversion and underestimation of strangers’ pain.
When Feeling Is More Important Than Seeing in Sensorimotor Adaptation
This study shows that vision and proprioception are integrated optimally when estimating hand position, with weighting varying by spatial direction.
Uncertainty and stress: Why it causes diseases and how it is mastered by the brain
This paper defines stress as uncertainty using the free energy principle, explaining how persistent uncertainty drives cerebral energy demand and systemic dysfunction.
Linking Pain and Motor Control: Conceptualization of Movement Deficits in Patients With Painful Conditions
This paper outlines a motor control framework showing how pain and pain anticipation alter movement through sensory, cognitive, and motor processes.
The interaction between stress and chronic pain through the lens of threat learning
This review argues that threat learning is a key mechanism linking stress and chronic pain, integrating evidence on cortisol and maladaptive learning.