Altered bodily perceptions in chronic neuropathic pain conditions and implications for treatment using immersive virtual reality

Chronic neuropathic pain is highly disabling and difficult to treat and manage. Patients with such conditions often report altered bodily perceptions that are thought to be associated with maladaptive structural and functional alterations in the somatosensory cortex. Manipulating these altered perceptions using body illusions in virtual reality is being investigated and may have positive clinical implications for the treatment of these conditions. Here, we have conducted a narrative review of the evidence for the types of bodily distortions associated with a variety of peripheral and central neuropathic pain conditions. In addition, we summarize the experimental and clinical studies that have explored embodiment and body transformation illusions in immersive virtual reality for neuropathic pain relief, which are thought to target these maladaptive changes, as well as suggesting directions for future research

Polish Version of the Negative Attitude Toward Robots Scale (NARS-PL)

This paper presents the Polish adaptation of the Negative Attitude toward Robots Scale (NARS-PL), primarily created by Nomura et al. (2004). 213 individuals participated in the study (49 professionals and 164 non- professionals). The Polish version obtained satisfactory psychometric properties for a two-factor structure. Both subscales, the Negative Attitudes toward Robots that Display Human Traits (NARHT) and the Negative Attitudes toward Interactions with Robots (NATIR) possess good internal consistency. Effects of participant gender and robot’s appearance were found. Theory consistent relationships between attitude toward robots, belief in human nature uniqueness and robots’ human-likeness are discussed