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Illusions that create a sense of ownership over a virtual body have been widely used to investigate the characteristics of our bodily experience. Despite the great potential of 360-degree videos to implement full-body ownership illusion, research is in its early stages, and no validated tools—neither commercial nor free—are available for the scientific and clinical community. In the current study, we present and discuss the development and feasibility results of a free 360-degree video-based body ownership illusion that researchers and scholars can experience using a cardboard headset with their smartphones. Forty-six participants underwent the 360-degree video-based full-body ownership illusion, visualizing in a first-person perspective (1PP) or in a mirror view the pre-recorded body of a young female performer. All participants were exposed to a congruent visuo-tactile condition (embodiment condition) and to an incongruent visuo-tactile condition (control condition). Participants completed the Embodiment Questionnaire and the Objectified Body Consciousness (OBC) scale. Results revealed that in the congruent visuo-tactile condition (compared to the control one), participants experienced a strong illusion in terms of body ownership, self-location, and agency. In terms of visual perspective, there was no difference in embodiment feelings between participants who experienced the illusion in 1PP and those who underwent a mirror perspective. Lastly, the control beliefs subscale (i.e., OBC scale) displayed a positive correlation with the self-location illusion susceptibility. Overall, these results point to the feasibility of this novel tool as immersive 360-degree video-based scenarios to deliver bodily illusions, and they open new avenues for future clinical interventions.

Objective The general objective of the current study was to investigate the efficacy of a novel self-help virtual therapeutic experience (specifically, the COVID Feel Good intervention) in lowering the psychological burden experienced during the COVID-19 lockdowns in four European countries. Methods We focused on participants recruited from June 2020 to May 2021 in the context of a European multicenter project including four university/academic sites. The total number of participants in the longitudinal studies was 107 (study 1, N = 40; study 2, N = 29; study 3, N = 38). The randomized controlled trial (study 4) included 31 participants in total, 16 in the intervention group and 15 in the control group. Primary outcome measures were depression, anxiety, stress symptoms, perceived stress level, and perceived hopelessness. The secondary outcome was experienced social connectedness. Results Using separate linear mixed-effects models, the most consistent result across countries was a reduction in perceived stress after the participation in the COVID Feel Good intervention. By pooling the results of the models using a random-effects meta-analysis, we found that after the COVID Feel Good intervention, participants reported a decrease in perceived general distress (mean standardized effect size for general distress in the treatment groups compared with the control conditions was -0.52 [p =.008, 95% confidence interval = -0.89 to -0.14]) and an increase in the perceived social connection (mean standardized effect size for social connection using COVID Feel Good compared with the control conditions was 0.50 [p ≤.001, 95% confidence interval = 0.25 to 0.76]). Conclusions Findings of this study indicate that a virtual self-help intervention is effective in reducing psychological distress. These results contribute to the growing literature supporting the use of digital psychological therapies to relieve psychological distress among the general population during the COVID-19 pan

Despite advances in our understanding of the behavioral and molecular factors that underlie the onset and maintenance of Eating Disorders (EDs), it is still necessary to optimize treatment strategies and establish their efficacy. In this context, over the past 25 years, Virtual Reality (VR) has provided creative treatments for a variety of ED symptoms, including body dissatisfaction, craving, and negative emotions. Recently, different researchers suggested that EDs may reflect a broader impairment in multisensory body integration, and a particular VR technique—VR body swapping—has been used to repair it, but with limited clinical results. In this paper, we use the results of a systematic review employing PRISMA guidelines that explore inner body perception in EDs (21 studies included), with the ultimate goal to analyze the features of multisensory impairment associated with this clinical condition and provide possible solutions. Deficits in interoception, proprioception, and vestibular signals were observed across Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa, suggesting that: (a) alteration of inner body perception might be a crucial feature of EDs, even if further research is needed and; (b) VR, to be effective with these patients, has to simulate/modify both the external and the internal body. Following this outcome, we introduce a new therapeutic approach—Regenerative Virtual Therapy—that integrates VR with different technologies and clinical strategies to regenerate a faulty bodily experience by stimulating the multisensory brain mechanisms and promoting self-regenerative processes within the brain itself.

Oncological treatments are responsible for many of the physical changes (aesthetic and functional) associated with cancer. Because of this, cancer patients are at high risk of developing mental health problems. The aim of this study is to propose an innovative Virtual Reality (VR) training that uses a somatic technique (i.e., embodiment) to create a bridge with the bodily dimension of cancer. After undergoing a psycho-educational procedure, a combination of exposure, out-of-body experience, and body swapping will gradually train the patient to cope with cancer-related difficulties, increasing stress tolerance, and patient empowerment. The most engaging step of this advanced form of Stress Inoculation Training is the body swapping experience, which will guide the patient in embodying a resilient cancer patient who is facing similar difficulties. Through the VR ability to simulate the human brain functioning, and the potential of embodiment to hook to the somatic dimension of illness, we expect that once the concepts endured through the patient’s experience of resilience are triggered, the patient will be more prone to implement functional coping strategies in real life, reaching empowerment and adjusting to the post-treatment difficulties. When the scenarios are built and the training tested, our intervention could be used to support patients with different oncological diseases and who are treated in different cancer hospitals, as well as patients with other non-oncological problems (e.g., social anxiety). Future research should focus on using our paradigm for other clinical populations, and supporting cancer patients in coping with different distressing situations.

Despite noticeable advances, we are still far from a real understanding of AN, especially concerning how patients experience their bodies. In light of its aforementioned relevance in this pathology, we suggest a deeper investigation of this aspect by combining insights from different research fields (i.e., clinical practice and neuropsychology) and technological advances. With that in mind, the goal of the BODY-FRIEND project is to use BS to study body experience in AN from a psychological and physiological point of view. It will do this by using state-of-the-art technologies, such as VR-based FBI and physiological sensors, to learn more about the role of the frame of reference (first- or third-person perspective) and the virtual body parameters (in terms of BMI). Once these mechanisms have been better understood, it might be possible to investigate the effects of repeated BS exposure on relevant AN clinical body-related symptoms as body distortion. These data might also be used to develop machine learning models to identify the main factors implicated in the pathology and thus determine what might be the most successful intervention targets. This project will be carried out in collaboration with the Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS (Italy) and the Humane Technology Lab from the Catholic University of Sacred Heart (Italy).

Break in presence (BIP) is a concept that refers to that condition in which the person immersed in a virtual reality ( VR) environment disengages from it, due to various factors, and focuses more on the real environment. BIP occurs due to certain factors that may be related to errors in the sensory data of the virtual reality environment (VRE). These errors can influence the multisensory integration process by generating a multisensory conflict, which results in BIP phenomena. Several studies have identified a correlation between BIP and the physiological (e. g., electrocardiogram/ ECG) responses of people, showing that there is a correlation between these two aspects. In this study, we used the physiological (ECG) data collected in a previous study, in which participants were involved in a Full Body illusion (FBI) experiment, i. e. a paradigm that uses VR to generate a synchronous multisensory stimulation condition and an asynchronous multisensory stimulation condition. The FBI asynchronous stimulation condition can generate a multisensory conflict that is the same phenomenon underlying BIP. In this study, we used these physiological (ECG) data, collected throughout the FBI, to train different machine learning (ML) models to be able to detect the multisensory conflict underlying BIP from ECG tracings alone. The results showed that two ML models, Decision Tree and Random Forest, are able to detect the multisensory conflicts underlying BIP.

Affective computing is a rapidly growing field that aims to understand human emotions through Artificial Intelligence. One of the most promising ways to achieve this goal is the use of physiological data (e.g. electrocardiogram-ECG) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to classify affective states. ECG correlates, such as Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and its features, are reported as viable indicators in both dimensional approaches, especially for valence, and in detecting discrete emotions. In this preliminary study, we used the ECG data from the open-source HCI Tagging Database, which includes physiological data and self-referred feedback from 30 subjects who watched videos designed to elicit different emotions. The subjects evaluated their reactions using a three-dimensional affective space defined by arousal, valence, and dominance levels and reported the emotions they felt. To classify the affective states, we trained and tested different classification algorithms on the HRV features, using as labels, each self-reported feedback (i.e., valence, arousal, dominance, and emotions). The results showed that HRV features, when combined with normalization methods and ML algorithms, were effective in recognizing emotions as experienced by individuals. In particular, the study showed that Decision Tree was the best-performing algorithm for predicting emotions based on HRV data. Additionally, an Explainable AI (XAI) model provided insights into the weight of these features in the ML discrimination phases. Overall, the study highlights the potential of HRV as a valid and unobtrusive source for detecting emotional states.

To explore the potential of VR in improving cancer patients' well-being, the Humane Technology Lab from the Catholic University of Sacred Heart (Italy) has developed the 360-VIRTOncology Project. This project will be carried out in collaboration with the Radiotherapy Unit of Veneto Institute of Oncology (IOV) from Padua (Italy), which will support the data collection for the project.

Despite advances in our understanding of the behavioral and molecular factors that underlie the onset and maintenance of Eating Disorders (EDs), it is still necessary to optimize treatment strategies and establish their efficacy. In this context, over the past 25 years, Virtual Reality (VR) has provided creative treatments for a variety of ED symptoms, including body dissatisfaction, craving, and negative emotions. Recently, different researchers suggested that EDs may reflect a broader impairment in multisensory body integration, and a particular VR technique—VR body swapping—has been used to repair it, but with limited clinical results. In this paper, we use the results of a systematic review employing PRISMA guidelines that explore inner body perception in EDs (21 studies included), with the ultimate goal to analyze the features of multisensory impairment associated with this clinical condition and provide possible solutions. Deficits in interoception, proprioception, and vestibular signals were observed across Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa, suggesting that: (a) alteration of inner body perception might be a crucial feature of EDs, even if further research is needed and; (b) VR, to be effective with these patients, has to simulate/modify both the external and the internal body. Following this outcome, we introduce a new therapeutic approach—Regenerative Virtual Therapy—that integrates VR with different technologies and clinical strategies to regenerate a faulty bodily experience by stimulating the multisensory brain mechanisms and promoting self-regenerative processes within the brain itself.