ArticleScientific reports2021
Interacting with virtual objects via embodied avatar hands reduces pain intensity and diverts attention.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Water-friendly Virtual Reality and Brief Thermal Pain
Virtual Reality Analgesia for Brief Thermal Pain
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of psychosensory interventions for the management of pediatric pain, fear, and distress during emergency care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of virtual reality for pain relief in medical procedures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- The effects of virtual reality technology on reducing pain in wound care: A meta-analysis and systematic review.International wound journal · 2022Pooled it
- The Effect of Immersive Virtual Reality on Anterograde Amnesia and Subjective Pain During Procedures: A Within-Subject Randomized Controlled Study.Anesthesia and analgesia · 2026Trial
- The effect of self-selected soothing music on fistula puncture-related pain and comfort levels in hemodialysis patients: a randomized controlled, single-blind, single-center study.International urology and nephrology · 2026Trial
- The use of virtual reality technology among women undergoing intrauterine insemination: a randomized controlled study.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Best maternal point of visual focusing for minimizing pain and anxiety during second trimester genetic amniocentesis: a randomized trial.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Trial
- Effects of Non-Immersive Virtual Reality Exercise on Self-Reported Pain and Mechanical Hyperalgesia in Older Adults with Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Trial
- The effect of virtual reality (VR) glasses and therapeutic touch (TT) on pain, anxiety, and patient satisfaction during intrauterine insemination (IUI) compared to standard care: a single-blind, randomized controlled trial.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Trial
- Adding tactile feedback increases avatar ownership and makes virtual reality more effective at reducing pain in a randomized crossover study.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- An Exploratory Study on the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Analgesia for Children and Adolescents with Kidney Diseases Undergoing Venipuncture.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Comparison between the analgesic effectiveness and patients' preference for virtual reality vs. topical anesthesia gel during the administration of local anesthesia in adult dental patients: a randomized clinical study.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Enhancing handicraft intangible cultural heritage learning through immersive VR serious games: a multimodal study on natural interaction effectiveness.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Design of Immersive Virtual Reality Systems and Their Application in Zoster-Associated Pain Following Pulsed Radiofrequency Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of virtual reality to manage pain and anxiety in patients undergoing cystoscopy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Asian journal of urology · 2025Review
- Harnessing Extended Reality for Neurocognitive Training in Chronic Pain: State of the Art, Opportunities, and Future Directions.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The proteus effect on human pain perception through avatar muscularity and gender factors.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Barriers and Facilitators to the Implementation of Virtual Reality Interventions for People With Chronic Pain: Scoping Review.JMIR XR and spatial computing · 2024Review
- Article
- The Behavioral Adaptations and Barriers of Patients Employing Non-Pharmacological Strategies for Cancer Pain Management-A Qualitative Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The current study introduces a new paradigm for exploring cognitive factors in pain. Interacting with virtual objects via embodied avatar hands increased the illusion of "being there" in the virtual world, increased VR analgesia for acute pain, and reduced accuracy on an attention demanding task. Twenty-four healthy volunteer college students participated in this within-subject randomized crossover design study. During Phase 1, each participant received brief thermal pain stimuli during interactive embodied avatar VR vs. passive VR (no avatar and no interactivity), VR treatment order randomized. After each pain stimulus, participants provided subjective 0-10 ratings of pain. Compared to the passive VR condition, during the interactive avatar VR, participants reported significant reductions in (1) worst pain, (2) pain unpleasantness, (3) time thinking about pain and (4). they had significantly more fun during the pain stimulus (p = .000 for each). During Phase 2, participants performed a divided attention task in each of the two VR conditions. Participants made significantly more errors on the divided attention task during the interactive avatar VR condition, compared to passive VR, implicating an attention mechanism for how virtual reality reduces pain and helping understand how VR influences pain perception.Trial registration: NCT04245475. Date of registration: 29/01/2020.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.