The Relationship Between the Virtual Hand Illusion and Motor Performance.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Bodily self-consciousness involves agency (sense of control) and body ownership (sense of belonging).
• The active virtual hand illusion (VHI) can induce these feelings by synchronizing real and virtual hand movements.
• The impact of motor performance errors on VHI has been under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between active VHI and motor performance.
• To determine how movement errors affect the senses of agency and body ownership during VHI.

Main Methods:

• 18 healthy participants performed continuous circular movements with a virtual hand.
• Visual feedback delays (90-570 ms) were introduced to induce VHI.
• Movement errors (spatial and temporal) and subjective ratings of agency and ownership were measured.

Main Results:

• Subjective ratings of agency and body ownership decreased as visual feedback delay increased.
• Spatial and temporal movement errors increased linearly with delay intervals.
• Multiple regression revealed agency was influenced by both delay and movement variability, while ownership was primarily affected by delay.

Conclusions:

• Motor performance, particularly movement variability, significantly influences the sense of agency in active VHI.
• The sense of body ownership in active VHI is predominantly determined by the visual feedback delay.
• These findings suggest distinct roles for motor performance in shaping agency versus ownership during virtual embodiment.