Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.

Recent studies have shown that a fake body part can be incorporated into human body representation through synchronous multisensory stimulation on the fake and corresponding real body part - the most famous example being the Rubber Hand Illusion. However, the extent to which gross asymmetries in the...

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Main Authors: Konstantina Kilteni, Jean-Marie Normand, Maria V Sanchez-Vives, Mel Slater
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0040867&type=printable
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author Konstantina Kilteni
Jean-Marie Normand
Maria V Sanchez-Vives
Mel Slater
author_facet Konstantina Kilteni
Jean-Marie Normand
Maria V Sanchez-Vives
Mel Slater
author_sort Konstantina Kilteni
collection DOAJ
description Recent studies have shown that a fake body part can be incorporated into human body representation through synchronous multisensory stimulation on the fake and corresponding real body part - the most famous example being the Rubber Hand Illusion. However, the extent to which gross asymmetries in the fake body can be assimilated remains unknown. Participants experienced, through a head-tracked stereo head-mounted display a virtual body coincident with their real body. There were 5 conditions in a between-groups experiment, with 10 participants per condition. In all conditions there was visuo-motor congruence between the real and virtual dominant arm. In an Incongruent condition (I), where the virtual arm length was equal to the real length, there was visuo-tactile incongruence. In four Congruent conditions there was visuo-tactile congruence, but the virtual arm lengths were either equal to (C1), double (C2), triple (C3) or quadruple (C4) the real ones. Questionnaire scores and defensive withdrawal movements in response to a threat showed that the overall level of ownership was high in both C1 and I, and there was no significant difference between these conditions. Additionally, participants experienced ownership over the virtual arm up to three times the length of the real one, and less strongly at four times the length. The illusion did decline, however, with the length of the virtual arm. In the C2-C4 conditions although a measure of proprioceptive drift positively correlated with virtual arm length, there was no correlation between the drift and ownership of the virtual arm, suggesting different underlying mechanisms between ownership and drift. Overall, these findings extend and enrich previous results that multisensory and sensorimotor information can reconstruct our perception of the body shape, size and symmetry even when this is not consistent with normal body proportions.
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spelling doaj-art-bf0ce5afee944dca8d0200f102ea1a902025-08-20T02:30:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0177e4086710.1371/journal.pone.0040867Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.Konstantina KilteniJean-Marie NormandMaria V Sanchez-VivesMel SlaterRecent studies have shown that a fake body part can be incorporated into human body representation through synchronous multisensory stimulation on the fake and corresponding real body part - the most famous example being the Rubber Hand Illusion. However, the extent to which gross asymmetries in the fake body can be assimilated remains unknown. Participants experienced, through a head-tracked stereo head-mounted display a virtual body coincident with their real body. There were 5 conditions in a between-groups experiment, with 10 participants per condition. In all conditions there was visuo-motor congruence between the real and virtual dominant arm. In an Incongruent condition (I), where the virtual arm length was equal to the real length, there was visuo-tactile incongruence. In four Congruent conditions there was visuo-tactile congruence, but the virtual arm lengths were either equal to (C1), double (C2), triple (C3) or quadruple (C4) the real ones. Questionnaire scores and defensive withdrawal movements in response to a threat showed that the overall level of ownership was high in both C1 and I, and there was no significant difference between these conditions. Additionally, participants experienced ownership over the virtual arm up to three times the length of the real one, and less strongly at four times the length. The illusion did decline, however, with the length of the virtual arm. In the C2-C4 conditions although a measure of proprioceptive drift positively correlated with virtual arm length, there was no correlation between the drift and ownership of the virtual arm, suggesting different underlying mechanisms between ownership and drift. Overall, these findings extend and enrich previous results that multisensory and sensorimotor information can reconstruct our perception of the body shape, size and symmetry even when this is not consistent with normal body proportions.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0040867&type=printable
spellingShingle Konstantina Kilteni
Jean-Marie Normand
Maria V Sanchez-Vives
Mel Slater
Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.
PLoS ONE
title Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.
title_full Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.
title_fullStr Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.
title_full_unstemmed Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.
title_short Extending body space in immersive virtual reality: a very long arm illusion.
title_sort extending body space in immersive virtual reality a very long arm illusion
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0040867&type=printable
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