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Updated: Dec 18, 2025
05:43
Applying Incongruent Visual-Tactile Stimuli during Object Transfer with Vibro-Tactile Feedback
Published on: May 23, 2019
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Visual feedback from a virtual body modulates motor illusion induced by tendon vibration
Gabriele Fusco1,2, Gaetano Tieri3,4, Salvatore Maria Aglioti5,3
1Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLNS@SAPIENZA, Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy. gabriele.fusco@uniroma1.it.
Psychological Research
|June 12, 2020
Summary
Tendon vibration (TV) creates illusory movement sensations. Visual feedback significantly alters these illusions, with less visual information leading to stronger sensations, suggesting vision
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Human Perception
- Virtual Reality
Background:
- Tendon vibration (TV) induces illusory kinesthetic sensations.
- Visual feedback is known to modulate these somatosensory illusions.
- Immersive virtual reality (IVR) offers a novel platform to investigate visual influences on proprioception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of visual feedback in modulating illusory sensations of arm movement using IVR.
- To quantify the impact of different visual stimuli (no vision, real arm, virtual arm, virtual object) on motor illusions.
- To explore the relationship between the sense of embodiment and the motor illusion.
Main Methods:
- Thirty healthy participants underwent frequency-specific tendon vibration applied to their left arm.
- Participants evaluated motor illusion onset and characteristics (vividness, duration, extension, aftereffect) under varying visual feedback conditions (none, real arm, virtual limb, virtual object).
- Subjective embodiment illusion was assessed in virtual reality conditions.
Main Results:
- Motor illusion perception decreased progressively from no visual feedback to observing the real arm.
- Virtual limb appearance modulated the illusion; a detached virtual hand produced a stronger illusion than a full virtual limb or object.
- No significant correlation was found between the motor illusion and the embodiment illusion.
Conclusions:
- Visual feedback significantly modulates kinesthetic illusions induced by tendon vibration.
- The degree of visual resemblance between real and virtual limbs influences proprioceptive processing.
- Motor and embodiment illusions appear to be distinct phenomena, not directly correlated in this context.
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