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Updated: Feb 2, 2026

The Crossmodal Congruency Task as a Means to Obtain an Objective Behavioral Measure in the Rubber Hand Illusion Paradigm
Published on: July 26, 2013
Age-related changes in the sense of body ownership: New insights from the rubber hand illusion
Angela Marotta1,2, Massimiliano Zampini3, Michele Tinazzi1
1Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Abstract:
How do age-related changes affect the sense of body ownership? This study tackles this issue by means of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), a widely used experimental tool for investigating the sense of body ownership. There is ample literature on the RHI in young populations, but research on age-related changes in the RHI is still scarce. Here we extend the use of the RHI to examine the changes in the sense of body ownership related to healthy aging. Subjective reports (i.e., questionnaire) and proprioceptive drift were compared among young (n = 22, age range 20-22 years), middle-aged (n = 22, age range 44-55 years), and older adults (n = 22, age range 60-72 years). A stronger subjective experience of illusion was observed in the young and older adults as compared to the middle-aged. No differences in proprioceptive drift were found between the three groups. These findings are discussed in relation to: 1) different stages of development of perceptual and cognitive components of the sense of body ownership, and 2) compensatory mechanisms.
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