When Less Is More: Investigating Factors Influencing the Distraction Effect of Virtual Reality From Pain

Individual predictors of vaccine hesitancy in the Italian post COVID-19 pandemic era

A wide range of survey studies have explored vaccination hesitancy/resistance during the COVID-19 pandemic and provided evidence that this can be explained by several individual variables from the ideological, clinical, and socio-affective domain. However, evidence about which individual variables predict vaccine hesitancy in the post-pandemic state of COVID-19 is meager. We administered a battery of questionnaires to a group of 120 Italian participants with high and low scores on the adult vaccine hesitancy scale (aVHS) to investigate the predictive role of ideological (i.e. political orientation), clinical (i.e. anxiety, interoceptive accuracy), and socio-affective (i.e. alexithymia, disgust sensitivity/propensity, empathy) variables on vaccine hesitancy/resistance. This study provides evidence that lower interoceptive awareness and cognitive empathy are predictors of a greater hesitancy to get vaccinated in the post-pandemic COVID-19 state.

Role of Immersive Virtual Reality in Motor Behaviour Decision-Making in Chronic Pain Patients

Primary chronic pain is a major contributor to disability worldwide, with an estimated prevalence of 20-33% of the world's population. The high socio-economic impact of musculoskeletal pain justifies seeking an appropriate therapeutic strategy. Immersive virtual reality (VR) has been proposed as a first-line intervention for chronic musculoskeletal pain. However, the growing literature has not been accompanied by substantial progress in understanding how VR exerts its impact on the pain experience and what neurophysiological mechanisms might be involved in the clinical effectiveness of virtual reality interventions in chronic pain patients. The aim of this review is: (i) to establish the state of the art on the effects of VR on patients with chronic pain; (ii) to identify neuroplastic changes associated with chronic pain that may be targeted by VR intervention; and (iii) to propose a hypothesis on how immersive virtual reality could modify motor behavioral decision-making through an interactive experience in patients with chronic pain.