Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: This study investigated how psychological stress induced by virtual reality (VR) affects tactile and pain sensitivity.Twenty-one university students were randomly assigned to either a stress-inducing VR condition, which involved exposure to an aversive virtual environment, or a neutral VR condition, which involved exposure to a calm natural scene.Tactile thresholds were measured using the two-point discrimination method, and pain thresholds were assessed with a low-frequency electrical stimulator, both before and after the VR experience.Results showed that exposure to the stressful VR environment increased pain sensitivity, whereas tactile sensitivity remained largely unchanged.These findings suggest that acute psychological stress induced by immersive VR selectively enhances pain perception, possibly through activation of stress-related neural mechanisms.The present study highlights the potential of VR as a controlled and ecologically valid tool for examining the interaction between psychological stress and somatosensory processing.Such an approach may contribute to a better understanding of stress-related modulation of sensory systems and offer insights relevant to pain research and clinical assessment.
DOI: 10.57373/0002000399
Authors: Maeno, Sayuki, 瀬川, 育美, Nagaishi, Takatoshi
Language: Japanese
Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7207762850