Embodied musical experiences in the metaverse: a review of sensorimotor integration in VR-based music performance

Abstract

Virtual reality and the musical metaverse decompose traditional music performance into isolated visual, auditory, and tracking modules. While these immersive environments provide strong audiovisual feedback, they severely weaken the tactile and proprioceptive cues necessary for fine motor control. This review critically synthesizes empirical evidence from the past 5 years to evaluate whether audiovisual feedback can effectively compensate for the absence of haptic feedback. We analyze this cross-modal compensation through the lens of predictive processing and sensorimotor integration. Current data suggest that audiovisual feedback can support short-term spatial orientation and rhythmic accuracy in macro-motor tasks, such as percussion. However, evidence for effective compensation becomes substantially weaker in high-complexity tasks requiring fine motor control, such as piano and bowed string instruments. In these scenarios, physical resistance and haptic feedback appear difficult to replace. Furthermore, continuous temporal micro-delays in VR can create persistent action–feedback mismatches. These mismatches may increase monitoring demands and disrupt psychological flow. Whether they also exacerbate music performance anxiety remains an untested hypothesis. Pedagogically, XR technologies facilitate basic concept visualization, but they currently lack robust evidence for durable fine-motor procedural learning and real-instrument transfer. We conclude that the existing literature often conflates short-term usability gains with long-term skill transfer due to methodological limitations. Future research should adopt longitudinal designs, include real-instrument baselines, and treat haptic feedback as a core variable to verify authentic pedagogical transferability.