Abstract
Pain represents an embodied process, wherein inferences are not only drawn from sensory inputs, but also from bodily states. Previous research has demonstrated that a placebo administered to an embodied rubber hand can effectively induce analgesia, providing first evidence that placebos can work even when applied to temporarily embodied, artificial body parts. Using a heat pain paradigm, the present study investigates placebo analgesia and pain perception during virtual embodiment. We examined whether a virtual placebo (a sham heat protective glove) can successfully induce analgesia, even when administered to a virtual body. The analgesic efficacy of the virtual placebo to the real hand (augmented reality setting) or virtual hand (virtual reality setting) was compared to a physical placebo administered to the own, physical body (physical reality setting). Furthermore, pain perception and subjective embodiment were compared between settings. Healthy participants (n=48) were assigned to either an analgesia-expectation or control-expectation group, where subjective and objective pain was measured at pre- and post-intervention time points. Results evinced that pre-intervention pain intensity was lower in the virtual reality setting, and that participants in the analgesia-expectation condition, after the intervention, exhibited significantly higher pain thresholds, and lower pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings than control-expectation participants, independent of the setting. Our findings evince that a virtual placebo can elicit placebo analgesia comparable to that of a physical placebo, and that administration of a placebo does not necessitate physical bodily interaction to produce analgesic responses, which might pave the way for effective new non-pharmacological approach for pain management.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
