Dataset Information

Perceptual drifts of real and artificial limbs in the rubber hand illusion.

ABSTRACT: In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), transient embodiment of an artificial hand is induced. An often-used indicator for this effect is the "proprioceptive drift", a localization bias of the real hand towards the artificial hand. This measure suggests that the real hand is attracted by the artificial hand. Principles of multisensory integration, however, rather suggest that conflicting sensory information is combined in a "compromise" fashion and that hands should rather be attracted towards each other. Here, we used a new variant of the RHI paradigm in which participants pointed at the artificial hand. Our results indicate that the perceived positions of the real and artificial hand converge towards each other: in addition to the well-known drift of the real hand towards the artificial hand, we also found an opposite drift of the artificial hand towards the real hand. Our results contradict the notion of perceptual substitution of the real hand by the artificial hand. Rather, they are in line with the view that vision and proprioception are fused into an intermediate percept. This is further evidence that the perception of our body is a flexible multisensory construction that is based on integration principles.

SUBMITTER: Fuchs X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4840308 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Perceptual drifts of real and artificial limbs in the rubber hand illusion.

Fuchs Xaver X Riemer Martin M Diers Martin M Flor Herta H Trojan Jörg J

Scientific reports 20160422

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), transient embodiment of an artificial hand is induced. An often-used indicator for this effect is the "proprioceptive drift", a localization bias of the real hand towards the artificial hand. This measure suggests that the real hand is attracted by the artificial hand. Principles of multisensory integration, however, rather suggest that conflicting sensory information is combined in a "compromise" fashion and that hands should rather be attracted towards each o ...[more]

PMID: 27103059

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Project description:Some recent papers by P. Lush and colleagues have argued that the rubber hand illusion (RHI), where participants can feel a rubber hand as their own under appropriate multisensory stimulation, may be caused mainly by hypnotic suggestibility and expectations (demand characteristics). These papers rely primarily on a study with 353 participants who took part in a RHI experiment carried out in a classical way with brush stroking. Participants experienced a synchronous condition where the rubber hand was seen to be touched in synchrony with touch felt on their corresponding hidden real hand, or the touches were applied asynchronously as a control. Each participant had a related measure of their hypnotisability on a scale known as the Sussex-Waterloo Scale of Hypnotisability (SWASH). The authors found a correlation between the questionnaire ratings of the RHI in the synchronous condition and the SWASH score. From this, they concluded that the RHI is largely driven by suggestibility and further proposed that suggestibility and expectations may even entirely explain the RHI. Here we examine their claims in a series of extensive new analyses of their data. We find that at every level of SWASH, the synchronous stimulation results in greater levels of the illusion than the asynchronous condition; moreover, proprioceptive drift is greater in the synchronous case at every level of SWASH. Thus, while the level of hypnotisability does modestly influence the subjective reports (higher SWASH is associated with somewhat higher illusion ratings), the major difference between the synchronous and asynchronous stimulation is always present. Furthermore, by including in the model the participants' expectancy ratings of how strongly they initially believed they would experience the RHI in the two conditions, we show that expectations had a very small effect on the illusion ratings; model comparisons further demonstrate that the multisensory condition is two-to-three-times as dominant as the other factors, with hypnotisability contributing modestly and expectations negligibly. Thus, although the results indicate that trait suggestibility may modulate the RHI, presumably through intersubject variations in top-down factors, the findings also suggest that the primary explanation for the RHI is as a multisensory bodily illusion.

Dataset Information

Perceptual drifts of real and artificial limbs in the rubber hand illusion.

Publications

Perceptual drifts of real and artificial limbs in the rubber hand illusion.

Similar Datasets

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