Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41079401›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2025

When embodiment matters most: a confirmatory study on VR priming in motor imagery brain-computer interfaces training.

Daniela Esteves, Katarina Vagaja, Alexandre Andrade, Athanasios Vourvopoulos

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Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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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

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

4 authors.

Daniela EstevesInstitute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa), Bioengineering Department, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal.
Katarina VagajaInstitute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa), Bioengineering Department, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal.
Alexandre AndradeInstituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Athanasios VourvopoulosInstitute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa), Bioengineering Department, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Virtual Reality (VR) feedback is increasingly integrated into Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) applications, enhancing the Sense of Embodiment (SoE) toward virtual avatars and fostering more vivid motor imagery (MI). VR-based MI-BCIs hold promise for motor rehabilitation, but their effectiveness depends on neurofeedback quality. Although SoE may enhance MI training, its role as a priming strategy prior to VR-BCI has not been systematically examined, as prior work assessed embodiment only after interaction. This study investigates whether embodiment priming influences MI-BCI outcomes, focusing on event-related desynchronization (ERD) and BCI performance. Methods: Using a within-subject design, we combined data from a pilot study with an extended experiment, yielding 39 participants. Each completed an embodiment induction phase followed by MI training with EEG recordings. ERD and lateralization indices were analyzed across conditions to test the effect of prior embodiment. Results: Embodiment induction reliably increased SoE, yet no significant ERD differences were found between embodied and control conditions. However, lateralization indices showed greater variability in the embodied condition, suggesting individual differences in integrating embodied feedback. Conclusion: Overall, findings indicate that real-time VR-based feedback during training, rather than prior embodiment, is the main driver of MI-BCI performance improvements. These results corroborate earlier findings that real-time rendering of embodied feedback during MI-BCI training constitutes the primary mechanism supporting performance gains, while highlighting the complex role of embodiment in VR-based MI-BCIs.

Indexed as

brain-computer interfacesevent-related desynchronizationmotor imagerysense of embodimentvirtual reality

Identifiers

PMID41079401
PMCPMC12507712

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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.