Manipulation of the bodily self in immersive virtual reality (IVR) and related benefits

In this recent research line, the key method is immersive virtual reality (IVR): it allows to display a realistic virtual body (called avatar) from the first person perspective, giving the impression of owning it and its movements by simply looking at it.
Interestingly, the sense of ownership and agency over the avatar is so strong that if the virtual movements do not match the real ones, people tend copy or adjust their performance in accordance to the virtual one instead of their own (1,2). Even more extremely, if the real body is still, but the avatar is moving, the body reacts coherently with the virtual movements and that illusion can trigger motor (3), cognitive (4–6), neural (4–6) and social (7) beneficial consequences on the real body.
For example, I found that if a young healthy person is sitting, but his/her virtual body runs and walks, the persons’ heart rate increases, and also his/her cognitive functions improve, just like it happens after a real physical activity (4,5). I also confirmed the same effect on elderly but in a long-term perspective (6).

Related publications
1. Burin D, Kilteni K, Rabuffetti M, Slater M, Pia L. Body ownership increases the interference between observed and executed movements. PLoS One. 2019;14(1). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209899.
2. Gonzalez-Franco M, Cohn B, Ofek E, Burin D, Maselli A. The Self-Avatar Follower Effect in Virtual Reality. In: Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VR 2020. 2020. DOI: 10.1109/VR46266.2020.00019.
3. Tambone R, Giachero A, Calati M, Molo MT, Burin D, Pyasik M, et al. Using Body Ownership to Modulate the Motor System in Stroke Patients. Psychol Sci. 2021; doi: 10.1177/0956797620975774.
4. Burin D, Liu Y, Yamaya N, Kawashima R. Virtual training leads to physical, cognitive and neural benefits in healthy adults. Neuroimage. 2020;222. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117297.
5. Burin D, Yamaya N, Ogitsu R, Kawashima R. Virtual training leads to real acute physical, cognitive, and neural benefits on healthy adults: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2019; doi: 10.1186/s13063-019-3591-1.
6. Burin D, Kawashima R. Repeated Exposure to Illusory Sense of Body Ownership and Agency Over a Moving Virtual Body Improves Executive Functioning and Increases Prefrontal Cortex Activity in the Elderly. Front Hum Neurosci. 2021;15(674326). doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.674326.
7. Tambone R, Poggio G, Pyasik M, Burin D, Dal Monte O, Schintu S, et al. Changing your body changes your eating attitudes: embodiment of a slim virtual avatar induces avoidance of high-calorie food. Heliyon. 2021;7(7):e07515. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07515.