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Incorporating advanced pneumatic actuators, the device is capable of delivering differentiated pressure feedback to individual fingers, thereby facilitating a more realistic interaction within VR scenarios. Comprehensive fMRI-compatibility assessments have been successfully conducted, verifying the device\u2019s operational integrity within a 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) setting. This ensures its applicability for integrated neuroscientific explorations. Alongside, a VR platform was implemented to integrate audiovisual stimuli with haptic feedback, aiming to create a fully immersive experience for participants during fMRI studies. Experiments involving human subjects have demonstrated marked cortical activations in brain regions associated with immersive experiences, attributed to interactions with the VR content via the proposed haptic display. These findings highlight the potential of the developed haptic system in both enhancing the immersive quality of VR environments and serving as a novel instrument for the quantitative analysis of immersion through neuroimaging. The study advances the field by offering a new avenue for the exploration of neural mechanisms underlying immersive VR experiences, facilitated by fMRI-compatible haptic feedback.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0343297","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T17:57:29Z","timestamp":1774634249000},"page":"e0343297","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Exploring immersion through a fMRI-compatible multi-finger handheld haptic display"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-3135-3522","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Joonsub","family":"Byun","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Joonseon","family":"Hwang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yong-An","family":"Chung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hyeonseok","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jooyeon","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1734-901X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Keehoon","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0343297.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jss.2021.06.045","article-title":"Immersive Virtual Reality for Surgical Training: A Systematic Review","volume":"268","author":"RQ Mao","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Surg Res"},{"key":"pone.0343297.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6227","DOI":"10.1007\/s11042-019-08323-4","article-title":"Virtual reality in training: an experimental study with firefighters","volume":"79","author":"D Narciso","year":"2019","journal-title":"Multimed Tools Appl"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0343297.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.3724\/SP.J.2096-5796.2019.0008","article-title":"Haptic display for virtual reality: progress and challenges","volume":"1","author":"D Wang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Virtual Reality & Intelligent Hardware"},{"key":"pone.0343297.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102717","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijhcs.2021.102717","article-title":"A comparison of the effects of haptic and visual feedback on presence in virtual reality","volume":"157","author":"JK Gibbs","year":"2022","journal-title":"International Journal of Human-Computer Studies"},{"key":"pone.0343297.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nacke L, Lindley CA. 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