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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 6, 2026

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Published on: March 1, 2017

Does affective touch influence the virtual reality full body illusion?

Jutta R de Jong¹, Anouk Keizer², Manja M Engel²

¹Experimental Psychology/Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. c.dijkerman@uu.nl.

Experimental Brain Research

|March 15, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Affective touch may enhance body ownership, but results are inconclusive. This study investigated affective vs. non-affective touch in a virtual reality full-body illusion, finding mixed evidence for its impact on self-awareness.

Keywords:

Affective touch Body ownership Full body illusion Touch Virtual reality Visuo-tactile

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

Body ownership is crucial for self-awareness.
Bodily illusions, like the rubber hand illusion, study body ownership by creating visuo-tactile conflicts.
Previous research suggests affective touch enhances ownership of body parts, but its effect on full-body illusions is unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if affective touch modulates ownership strength in a virtual reality full-body illusion.
To compare subjective ownership experienced through slow (affective) versus fast (non-affective) touch.
To examine the role of synchronous versus asynchronous tactile stimulation.

Main Methods:

Two studies utilized virtual reality to create a first-person perspective full-body illusion.
Participants received synchronous or asynchronous stroking on the abdomen at slow (affective) or fast (non-affective) velocities.
Subjective ownership was measured to assess the impact of touch type and timing.

Main Results:

Study 1 indicated greater subjective ownership with affective touch compared to non-affective touch.
Study 2 found higher ownership with synchronous stimulation but did not replicate the affective touch effect.
Results suggest affective touch's role in full-body ownership remains uncertain.

Conclusions:

The impact of affective touch on full-body illusion strength is not definitively established.
While synchronous stimulation enhances body ownership, the specific effect of affective touch requires further investigation.
Future research is needed to clarify the relationship between affective touch and body ownership.