Users are more likely to experience visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) during passive motion in virtual reality (VR), particularly in passive virtual driving scenarios. To solve this challenge, we propose a Multi-sensory Simulation of Wind Sensation (MSSWS) method to alleviate VIMS symptoms by enhancing the user’s sense of embodiment (SoE). The method utilizes low-fidelity airflow simulation to align vestibular perception with visual, auditory, and tactile cues. Then, we developed an interactive wind simulation helmet that can generate low-fidelity airflow along four directional axes around the user’s head, and implemented a passive virtual motorcycle riding environment with synchronized visual and auditory feedback matching the airflow patterns. A user experiment was conducted to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of MSSWS in enhancing SoE and reducing VIMS under various conditions, including helmet activation states, speed variations, and movement directions, with additional validation conducted in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). Experimental results show that MSSWS significantly enhances sense of presence and SoE while substantially reducing VIMS during passive navigation. Notably, MSSWS shows significantly greater effects on VIMS in high-risk conditions characterized by rapid speed changes and multi-directional movement.

To relieve perceived pain in patients undergoing colonoscopy, we developed an endoscopist-patient co-participative VR tool (EPC-VR) based on A Neurocognitive Model of Attention to Pain. It allows the patient to play a VR game actively and supports the endoscopist in triggering a distraction mechanism to divert the patient's attention away from the medical procedure. We performed a comparative clinical study with 40 patients. Patients' perception of pain and affective responses were evaluated, and the results support the effectiveness of EPC-VR: active VR playing with endoscopists' participation can help relieve the perceived pain and scare of patients undergoing colonoscopy. Finally, 87.5% of patients opt to use the VR application in the next colonoscopy.

Human cognition and behavior can be unconsciously affected by personal avatars in the virtual world, a phenomenon known as the Proteus Effect. When using first-person non-human avatars, the characteristics of virtual hands may also induce relevant cognitive and even behavioral patterns in real human hands. Therefore, evaluating human-avatar gesture consistency may be a potentially effective method for objectively assessing the Proteus Effect when using non-human avatars. To explore this question, we first created human and non-human avatars, including three animals. Then, we constructed a dataset of hand gestures and trained a model to dynamically recognize real-hand gestures that were consistent with corresponding avatar hands. Next, we designed a virtual reality experimental task involving grasping objects with intuitive gestures and performed a 2 (avatar type: human/non-human) $* 2$ (virtual hand: presence/absence of spontaneous movement) within-subject experiment to examine the effects of avatar characteristics on self-illusion and human-avatar gesture consistency. The results showed that participants performed a significantly larger percentage of gestures that were consistent with their currently used avatars. Additionally, participants did experience self-illusion when using non-human avatars, although the levels were significantly lower than those when using human avatars. Therefore, self-illusion may serve as a perceptual antecedent of the Proteus Effect, even with non-human avatars, inadvertently altering the behavioral gestures of their real hands. In conclusion, detecting human-avatar gesture consistency can help evaluate the Proteus Effect.