Is my hand connected to my body? The impact of body continuity and arm alignment on the virtual hand illusion.

ABSTRACT: When a rubber hand is placed on a table top in a plausible position as if part of a person's body, and is stroked synchronously with the person's corresponding hidden real hand, an illusion of ownership over the rubber hand can occur (Botvinick and Cohen 1998). A similar result has been found with respect to a virtual hand portrayed in a virtual environment, a virtual hand illusion (Slater et al. 2008). The conditions under which these illusions occur have been the subject of considerable study. Here we exploited the flexibility of virtual reality to examine four contributory factors: visuo-tactile synchrony while stroking the virtual and the real arms, body continuity, alignment between the real and virtual arms, and the distance between them. We carried out three experiments on a total o

SUBMITTER: Perez-Marcos D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4079845 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature