To illustrate this, Baker pulls up a YouTube video of the rubber-hand illusion, a classic experiment. In it, a person is seated at a table, with their left arm resting on the table, and their right arm off to the side, hidden under a cloth, while a rubber arm and hand are resting parallel to their left hand on the table. The person running the experiment simultaneously rubs the right hand (under the cloth) and the rubber hand (visibly) in parallel, first vigorously, then softer and softer.
Eventually, only the rubber hand is being rubbed, but the person reports feeling the rubbing in that hand. If the rubber hand is then struck, the person flinches and reports feeling pain.
In VR, Baker suggests, the brain is being tricked in the same way, embodying the virtual self as its own. If the body in VR is moving with ease, the brain can be tricked into thinking it is no longer feeling pain at that moment.
“We are manipulating what people are seeing to reduce pain and enhance movement, through this idea that what’s happening in the VR is happening to them,” she says.
In her ongoing research, Baker is investigating how VR might be used to create embodiment. “I feel embodiment and chronic pain are going to go hand in hand, so to speak. I think that it’s going to be a really powerful tool.”
While VR has potential to help those suffering from chronic pain, it is unlikely to eliminate pain entirely. Chronic pain exists in an ongoing way; using VR would help manage that pain, Baker says. “We’d love to get rid of their pain, but for many people that is not a feasible goal. The pain is with them forever,” she says.
