Abstract
The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a perceptual illusion whereby a model hand is perceived as part of one’s own body. This illusion has been extensively studied, but little is known about the temporal evolution of this perceptual phenomenon, i.e., how long it takes until participants start to experience ownership over the model hand. In the present study, we investigated a version of the rubber hand experiment based on finger movements and measured the average onset time in active and passive movement conditions. This comparison enabled us to further explore the possible role of intentions and motor control processes that are only present in the active movement condition. The results from a large group of healthy participants (n = 117) showed that the illusion of ownership took approximately 23 s to emerge (active: 22.8; passive: 23.2). The 90th percentile occurs in both conditions within approximately 50 s (active: 50; passive: 50.6); therefore, most participants experience the illusion within the first minute. We found indirect evidence of a facilitatory effect of active movements compared to passive movements, and we discuss these results in the context of our current understanding of the processes underlying the moving RHI.
Highlights
The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a perceptual illusion whereby a fake model hand is perceived as part of one’s own body
We evaluated whether active or passive movements induced the illusion of ownership in our group of participants
We tested for the onset times of the ownership sensation in the moving RHI
Summary
The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a perceptual illusion whereby a fake model hand is perceived as part of one’s own body. The illusion is typically measured by questionnaires wherein participants have to rate the feelings of ownership and referral of touch using visual analog rating scales as well as by more objective methods, such as registering the pointing error toward the model hand when participants are asked to manually indicate the location of their hands (“proprioceptive drift”) (Botvinick and Cohen, 1998) or skin conductance responses (Armel and Ramachandran, 2003) evoked by physical threats toward the rubber hand (Ehrsson, 2012).
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