{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T13:09:09Z","timestamp":1776863349859,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776816000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Doctoral Start-up Fund Project of Shanghai Jianqiao University","award":["BBYQ202444"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BBYQ202444"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>During manual operations, the human brain relies on mediated visual stimuli such as color to estimate an object\u2019s weight and adjust muscle force through the central nervous system (CNS). This study examines the neuromuscular \u201creality gap\u201d induced by the color\u2013weight illusion (CWI) during repetitive lifting tasks in an augmented reality (AR) interface. We analyzed the median frequency (MDF) and Co-Contraction Index (CCI) of the biceps and triceps muscles to quantify physiological strain under varying luminance conditions in both AR and physical environments. The results reveal that AR significantly amplifies the CWI, with black stimuli triggering an aggressive joint-stiffening strategy in the AR group (APG). Compared with the physical reality group, the AR group showed lower overall endurance (91.4 \u00b1 22.8 vs. 100.1 \u00b1 12.5 repetitions) and a stronger physiological response to the black stimulus. In the AR group, the black condition was associated with a terminal CCI of 84.7 \u00b1 25.4% and an MDF decline of approximately 21.7 Hz, whereas the corresponding contrast was attenuated in the physical reality group. These findings demonstrate a critical decoupling between behavioral output and internal physiological strain, indicating that the CNS treats virtual visual cues as high-reliability signals that increase metabolic \u201cbio-cost\u201d despite task completion parity. This research identifies a \u201cmasking effect\u201d where behavioral metrics hide severe ergonomic risks, providing novel approaches for managing musculoskeletal health in industrial settings and personalizing coordination training in clinical rehabilitation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s26092575","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T12:00:32Z","timestamp":1776859232000},"page":"2575","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Physiological Impact of Chromatic-Weight Illusions in Augmented Reality: A Comparative sEMG Analysis of Muscle Fatigue and Stability"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Jun","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechatronics, Shanghai Jianqiao University, Shanghai 201306, China"},{"name":"G-SCOP Lab, University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, 38000 Grenoble, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2750-0393","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia","family":"Greenfield","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut f\u00fcr Digitale Medizin, Philipps University of Marburg, 35037 Marburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Mitrouchev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G-SCOP Lab, University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, 38000 Grenoble, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Guiqin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing and Robotics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Franck","family":"Quaine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"GIPSA Lab, University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, 38000 Grenoble, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163253","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2021.3131525","article-title":"A systematic review of weight perception in virtual reality: Techniques, challenges, and road ahead","volume":"9","author":"Lim","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"699","DOI":"10.1109\/TOH.2021.3077619","article-title":"Survey of pseudo-haptics: Haptic feedback design and application proposals","volume":"14","author":"Ujitoko","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. 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