Vicarious experience modulates implicit and explicit evaluation of virtual agents delivering pain and touch over an embodied avatar

Witnessing pain and touch on one’s embodied avatar in immersive virtual environments can elicit vicarious (un)pleasant sensations. What remains unclear is whether observing pain and touch on one’s virtual body can modulate attitudes towards the touching agent. In this study, participants underwent a full-body illusion in Immersive Virtual Reality and observed different virtual agents delivering either a painful (stab) or a pleasant (caress) virtual stimulus on their embodied avatar's right hand. We assessed the pre-post changes induced by virtual somatosensory stimuli on (1) explicit judgements of the virtual agent's trustworthiness and attractiveness; (2) implicit evaluation of the virtual agent's facial attractiveness (via a mouse-tracking procedure), and (3) the physiological arousal and gaze during the regulation of the virtual agent-human interpersonal distance. We found that trustworthiness increased and comfort distance decreased with the perceived touch pleasantness. Analysis of hand movements revealed decreased attraction toward the stabbing agents. Consistent with this pattern, stabbing agents elicited stronger cardiac deceleration– an index of freezing–during the subsequent approach. Gaze increased toward the eye region for both stabbers and caressers, suggesting heightened monitoring of the agent’s intentions. Together, these findings indicate that vicarious somatosensory experience can influence the social encoding of virtual agents at both explicit and implicit levels, as inferred from behavioural, physiological, and gaze signatures. These results contribute to understanding the psychological impact of embodied interactions in immersive digital spaces.