Reimagining Human Movement: The Impact of Extended Reality on Physical and Emotional Experience

Extended Reality (XR) — encompassing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) — represents a transformative force in how humans perceive and execute movement. While these technologies once carried the novelty of spectacle, they have since become significant for reshaping human physicality and cognition, serving areas such as immersive rehabilitation, enhanced athletic performance, and choreographic innovation. As digital environments play an increasingly pivotal role in our lives, understanding movement through these spaces is essential for uncovering the psychological and cognitive frameworks that shape human experiences.

This Research Topic aims to reconceive human movement within the XR framework — not solely as a biomechanical activity but as a dynamic, adaptive process rich with meaning. XR has vast potential for advancing motor learning, promoting neurorehabilitation, and refining both athletic and creative performance. Nonetheless, it also presents challenges by raising questions about how technological immersion alters sensory integration, spatial awareness, and motor planning. Concurrently, inquiries into identity changes and motivational dynamics in virtual environments are essential. Progress in neuroscience and human-computer interaction offer insights; however, significant gaps remain, especially regarding long-term impacts on movement-related self-awareness and emotional engagement.

We invite contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

• XR-enhanced motor learning and neurorehabilitation processes
• Optimization of performance training in sports through immersive experiences
• Perceptual adjustments and cognitive evolution within virtual, augmented, and mixed realities
• The influence of XR on motivational, affective, and identity aspects of movement
• Applications in education for psychomotor skill enhancement
• Designing inclusive movement experiences for the older adults or individuals with disabilities
• Sociocultural, psychological, and ethical considerations related to virtual embodiment
• Artistic and creative movement expressions facilitated by XR

Keywords: Immersive technology, Embodiment, Neuroplasticity, Sensorimotor integration, Affective engagement, Inclusivity in movement

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.