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Cited by 263

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 56 of the 56 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Neurobiology of Virtual Reality Pain Attenuation

Gold, Jeffrey I., Belmont, Katharine A., Thomas, David A.·2007·CyberPsychology & Behavior

Abstract

During the past decade, virtual reality (VR) has gained recognition as a means of attenuating pain during medical procedures. However, while investigators have examined the effects of virtual environments on level of distraction, subjective pain intensity, and brain activity, there have been only a handful of investigations into the neurobiological mechanisms associated with VR's efficacy. In an effort to explain how VR may alter pain perception and produce analgesia, as well as to guide the development of novel and improved VR pain treatments, this review aims to link the wealth of empirical data examining the neurobiology of pain to the growing field of VR. This review is separated into three main sections: (a) a brief overview of the current literature on the use of VR for the treatment of pain; (b) a review of the basic neurobiology of how pain is detected, processed, and controlled by the brain; and (c) an exploration into how current VR pain treatments may impact the pain system to produce analgesia. In addition, the future of VR for pain treatment is discussed, including how current treatments might be improved and novel ways to use VR to treat pain might be developed. Speculation on future VR interventions is based on our current understanding of how the brain processes pain and how VR appears to alter this process and produce analgesia.

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Metadata

Authors
Gold, J. I., Belmont, K. A., & Thomas, D. A.
Venue
CyberPsychology & Behavior
Published
2007-08
Volume
10
Issue
4
Pages
536-544
ISSN
  • 1094-9313 (ISSN-L)
  • 1557-8364
OpenAlex
W2080265591
Cited by
263
References
56
FWCI
4.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The Neurobiology of Virtual Reality Pain Attenuation. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1089/cpb.2007.9993
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Gold, J. I., Belmont, K. A., & Thomas, D. A. (2007). The Neurobiology of Virtual Reality Pain Attenuation. CyberPsychology & Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.9993

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