Abstract
The tendency to perceive an artificial effector as part of one’s own body is known to depend on temporal criteria, like the synchrony between stimulus events informing about the effector. The role of spatial factors is less well understood. Rather than physical distance, which has been manipulated in previous studies, we investigated the role of relative, context-induced distance between the participant’s real hand and an artificial hand stimulated synchronously or asynchronously with the real hand. We replicated previously reported distance effects in a virtual reality setup: the perception of ownership increased with decreased distance, and the impact of synchrony was stronger for short distances. More importantly, we found that ownership perception and impact of synchrony were affected by previous distance: the same, medium distance between real and artificial hand induced more pronounced ownership after having experienced a far-distance condition than after a near-distance condition. This suggests that subjective, context-induced spatial reference frames contribute to ownership perception, which does not seem to fit with the idea of fixed spatial criteria and/or permanent body representations as the sole determinants of perceived body ownership.
Highlights
How do we perceive ourselves and what are the mechanisms underlying our ability to perceive our body as constituting our bodily self? A recent technique to investigate this issue is the rubber hand illusion (RHI) and its virtual-reality version, the virtual hand illusion (VHI)
Temporal synchrony between multimodal input coming from the real and artificial hand is crucial for the illusion, as asynchronous conditions commonly produce significantly lower ownership ratings
The present study extends our knowledge about the cognitive process underlying RHI/VHI by demonstrating the flexibility of spatial criteria for moderating perceived body ownership
Summary
How do we perceive ourselves and what are the mechanisms underlying our ability to perceive our body as constituting our bodily self? A recent technique to investigate this issue is the rubber hand illusion (RHI) and its virtual-reality version, the virtual hand illusion (VHI). In the RHI/VHI, participants perceive an artificial physical or virtual hand as a part of their own body (Botvinick and Cohen, 1998; Ehrsson et al, 2004; Tsakiris and Haggard, 2005; Slater et al, 2008; Shimada et al, 2009). This illusion can be induced by synchronously stroking a rubber/virtual hand placed in front of a participant in such a way that it seems extend from the participant’s body, while the corresponding real hand is hidden from view. There is evidence for spatial criteria for perceived ownership
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