Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30183347›Full record

SynthesisCyberpsychology, behavior and social networking2019

Neuroscience of Virtual Reality: From Virtual Exposure to Embodied Medicine.

Giuseppe Riva, Brenda K Wiederhold, Fabrizia Mantovani

Open access · hybridAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 167 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
167citing papers in PubMed, 12 pooled it
34.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

167 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 515 citations in OpenAlex.

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  2. Physiological Responses to Virtual Reality-Based Stress Regulation and Relaxation Interventions: A Systematic Review.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2026
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  6. Virtual reality for cancer symptom management: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
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  10. Effects of virtual reality in post-stroke aphasia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2021
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107 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Giuseppe Riva1 Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
Brenda K Wiederhold3 Virtual Reality Medical Center, La Jolla, California.
Fabrizia Mantovani5 Department of Human Sciences for Education, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore · ITUniversity of Milano-Bicocca · ITVirtual Reality Medical Center · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Is virtual reality (VR) already a reality in behavioral health? To answer this question, a meta-review was conducted to assess the meta-analyses and systematic and narrative reviews published in this field in the last twenty-two months. Twenty-five different articles demonstrated the clinical potential of this technology in both the diagnosis and the treatment of mental health disorders: VR compares favorably to existing treatments in anxiety disorders, eating and weight disorders, and pain management, with long-term effects that generalize to the real world. But why is VR so effective? Here, the following answer is suggested: VR shares with the brain the same basic mechanism: embodied simulations. According to neuroscience, to regulate and control the body in the world effectively, the brain creates an embodied simulation of the body in the world used to represent and predict actions, concepts, and emotions. VR works in a similar way: the VR experience tries to predict the sensory consequences of an individual's movements, providing to him/her the same scene he/she will see in the real world. To achieve this, the VR system, like the brain, maintains a model (simulation) of the body and the space around it. If the presence in the body is the outcome of different embodied simulations, concepts are embodied simulations, and VR is an embodied technology, this suggests a new clinical approach discussed in this article: the possibility of altering the experience of the body and facilitating cognitive modeling/change by designing targeted virtual environments able to simulate both the external and the internal world/body.

Indexed as

Cognitive NeuroscienceVirtual RealityVirtual Reality Exposure TherapyAnxiety DisordersHumansMental DisordersPain Management

Identifiers

PMID30183347
PMCPMC6354552
OpenAlexW2890480785

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.