Embodied Interfaces: Human Experience in Virtual and Mediated Worlds—Volume II

Immersive and mediated technologies are transforming how people perceive, act, and relate to others. Advances in spatial computing, wearable sensing, haptics, telepresence, and AI-mediated interaction are expanding the ways users can experience body ownership, agency, and self–other boundaries in digital environments. At the same time, the field is maturing: researchers are increasingly expected to deliver robust experimental designs, stronger ecological validity, and clearer links between subjective experience and underlying neurocognitive mechanisms.

While Volume I highlighted the psychological and neurocognitive foundations of embodied interaction, recent developments motivate a Volume II that emphasizes (i) next-generation devices and interaction paradigms, (ii) multi-user and socially mediated experiences, (iii) clinically and educationally relevant applications, and (iv) reproducible measurement frameworks that can translate across labs and platforms.

This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of embodied interfaces and technologically mediated human experience, focusing on how immersive and interactive systems shape bodily self-representation, multisensory integration, emotion and motivation, learning and decision-making, and individual differences. We particularly encourage submissions that connect phenomenology (e.g., presence, immersion, agency) to objective markers, and that evaluate how design choices influence both benefits and risks in real-world contexts.

Topics of interest (indicative, not exhaustive)
We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to:
• Embodiment, body ownership, and agency in XR
o Full-body avatars, virtual bodies, body swapping, morphological change, sensory remapping
o Mechanisms of multisensory integration and boundary malleability
• Spatial computing and next-generation interaction
o Mixed reality (MR), passthrough AR, scene understanding, hand tracking, gaze-based interaction
o Haptics (wearable/ultrasound), exoskeletons, robotic extensions, tool embodiment
• Social embodiment and mediated interpersonal experience
o Social VR/telepresence, nonverbal behavior, co-presence, synchrony, empathy, trust
o Identity expression, self-presentation, and avatar realism/style effects
• AI-mediated and adaptive immersive environments (highly trending)
o Generative AI for interactive narratives, adaptive training, virtual coaches/therapists
o Personalized XR based on user state (affect, workload, fatigue) and ethical guardrails
• Neurocognitive and psychophysiological measurement
o EEG, fNIRS, eye tracking, pupillometry, EDA/HRV, respiration, motion capture
o Multimodal fusion to predict presence, agency, flow, cybersickness, engagement
• Individual differences and vulnerability factors
o Personality/cognitive style, prior experience, neurodiversity, age-related factors
o Susceptibility to cybersickness, dissociation, anxiety responses, or adverse effects
• Applications with real-world relevance
o Rehabilitation, pain and anxiety modulation, mental health support, education/work training
o Remote collaboration, assistive technologies, accessibility-inclusive XR design
• Methodological rigor, reproducibility, and open science
o Standardized reporting of hardware/software parameters, latency, rendering, tracking accuracy
o Longitudinal designs, replication studies, preregistration, shared datasets and code
• Ethics, safety, and governance of embodied technologies
o Privacy and biometric data, manipulation risks, persuasive design, informed consent
o Identity harms, harassment in social XR, fairness and inclusivity

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Embodiment, Telepresence, Individual differences, Cognitive processing, Affective processing

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.