Tactile and Visual Virtual Reality Attention Distraction From Pain in Cold Pressor Test

: The goal of this study was to test the efficacy of a tactile attention distraction from pain and compare its effectiveness with a virtual reality (VR) distraction on an analogous task. VR is considered to be the gold standard for attention distraction, but it cannot be used in certain clinical cases or for particular medical procedures. A repeated-measures experimental study was carried out with 42 participants using tactile and VR variants of an n -back task and a cold pressor test for pain. The independent variable was the distraction type (tactile, VR, or no-distraction) and the dependent variable was pain tolerance (i.e., time participants kept their hand in cold water). The results showed that both tactile and VR games effectively increased pain tolerance compared to the control condition. Effect sizes for both interventions were similar. However, the effect was observed only for female participants.