Editorial: Virtual and robotic embodiment

extensions has become a focal point of interest within converging interdisciplinary research fields, ranging 3 from cognitive science and neuroergonomics to computer and robotics engineering. This reflects a growing 4 commitment to understanding and shaping embodiment phenomena (with their multiple interpretations, 5 e.g., making a person perceive an external object as part of their body) in human-technology interactions 6 (Zbinden et al., 2022;Riva, 2008;Chevalier et al., 2015). The pursuit of embodiment research seeks goals 7 like optimizing the user experience and system control through human-centered design activities that are 8 informed by disciplines like cognitive science and human factors. This could be achieved by three cardinal 9 research directions: (i) exploring the neurocognitive processes underlying body ownership and agency 10 as foundational mechanisms for self-representation Longo et al. (2008), (ii) understanding the virtual 11 and robotic systems that humans embody during mediated interactions, and (iii) examining the interfaces 12 facilitating bidirectional sensorimotor exchange between humans and these artificial extensions.In the context of this Research Topic, attention was directed specifically toward embodiment assessment 14 across virtual and robotic contexts. The rubber limb illusion experiment represents a central paradigm 15 of empirical embodiment studies (Botvinick and Cohen, 1998). In these studies, participants observe an 16 artificial hand and embody it through multisensory stimulation of the fake and their real limb. The published 17 contributions investigate body perception through virtual hand illusion paradigms under synchronized