Illusory Body Ownership Between Different Body Parts: Synchronization of Right Thumb and Right Arm

Abstract

Illusory body ownership can be induced by visual-tactile stimulation or visual-motor synchronicity. We aimed to test whether a right thumb could be remapped to a virtual right arm and illusory body ownership of the virtual arm induced through synchronous movements of the right thumb and the virtual right arm. We presented the virtual right arm in synchronization with movements of a participant's right thumb on a head-mounted display (HMD). We found that the participants felt as though their right thumb became the right arm, and that the right arm belonged to their own body.