Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Application of the rubber hand illusion paradigm: comparison between upper and lower limbs

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Psychological Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The “rubber hand illusion (RHI)” is a perceptual illusion, which allows the integration of artificial limbs into the body representation of a person by means of combined visual and tactile stimulation. The illusion has been frequently replicated but always concerning the upper limbs. The present study verified an analog illusion that can be called the “rubber foot illusion” (RFI). In a conjoint experiment using both a rubber hand and a rubber foot, brushstrokes were applied to the respective real and rubber limb placed alongside the real one. However, only the artificial limb’s handling was visible. The brushstrokes were given either synchronously, with a delay of ±0.5 s, or without tactile stimulation of the real limb. Questionnaire data and the proprioceptive drift towards the rubber limb (determined by calling on the subjects to show where they locate their unseen limb) defined the illusion strength. Results revealed that the illusion was induced in both limbs with comparable strength, but only in the synchronous condition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albrecht, M. A., Martin-Iverson, M. T., Price, G., Lee, J., Iyyalol, R., & Waters, F. (2011). Dexamphetamine effects on separate constructs in the rubber hand illusion test. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 217(1), 39–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckerle, P. (2014). Human-machine-centred design and actuation of  lower limb prosthetic systems. Aachen, Germany: Shaker Verlag GmbH.

  • Botvinick, M., & Cohen, J. (1998). Rubber hands ‘feel’ touch that eyes see. Nature, 391(6669), 756.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruno, N., & Bertamini, M. (2010). Haptic perception after a change in hand size. Neuropsychologia, 48(6), 1853–1856.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrsson, H. H., Holmes, N. P., & Passingham, R. E. (2005). Touching a rubber hand: feeling of body ownership is associated with activity in multisensory brain areas. Journal of Neuroscience, 25(45), 10564–10573.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrsson, H. H., Spence, C., & Passingham, R. E. (2004). That’s my hand! Activity in premotor cortex reflects feeling of ownership of a limb. Science, 305(5685), 875–877.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hajnal, A., Fonseca, S., Harrison, S., Kinsella-Shaw, J., & Carello, C. (2007). Comparison of dynamic (effortful) touch by hand and foot. Journal of Motor Behaviour, 39(2), 82–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heed, T., Grundler, M., Rinkleib, J., Rudzik, F. H., Collins, T., Cooke, E., et al. (2011). Visual information and rubber hand embodiment differentially affect reach-to-grasp actions. Acta Psychologica, 138(1), 263–271.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holle, H., McLatchie, N., Maurer, S., & Ward, J. (2011). Proprioceptive drift without illusions of ownership for rotated hands in the “rubber hand illusion” paradigm. Cognitive Neuroscience, 2(3–4), 171–178.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, N. P., Snijders, H. J., & Spence, C. (2006). Reaching with alien limbs: visual exposure to prosthetic hands in a mirror biases proprioception without accompanying illusions of ownership. Perception and Psychophysics, 68(4), 685–701.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, N. P., & Spence, C. (2006). Beyond the Body Schema: Visual, Prosthetic, and Technological Contributions to Bodily Perception and Awareness. In G. Knoblich, I. M. Thornton, M. Grosjean, & M. Shiffrar (Eds.), Human body perception from the inside out: Advances in visual cognition. Advances in visual cognition. (pp. 15-64). New York, US: Oxford University Press.

  • Kammers, M. P., de Vignemont, F., Verhagen, L., & Dijkerman, H. C. (2009). The rubber hand illusion in action. Neuropsychologia, 47(1), 204–211.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lenggenhager, B., Tadi, T., Metzinger, T., & Blanke, O. (2007). Video ergo sum: manipulating bodily self-consciousness. Science, 317(5841), 1096–1099.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, D. M. (2007). Spatial limits on referred touch to an alien limb may reflect boundaries of visuo-tactile peripersonal space surrounding the hand. Brain and Cognition, 64(1), 104–109.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Longo, M. R., Schuur, F., Kammers, M. P., Tsakiris, M., & Haggard, P. (2008). What is embodiment? A psychometric approach. Cognition, 107(3), 978–998.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Makin, T. R., Holmes, N. P., & Ehrsson, H. H. (2008). On the other hand: dummy hands and peripersonal space. Behavioural Brain Research, 191(1), 1–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marasco, P. D., Kim, K., Colgate, J. E., Peshkin, M. A., & Kuiken, T. A. (2011). Robotic touch shifts perception of embodiment to a prosthesis in targeted reinnervation amputees. Brain, 134(Pt 3), 747–758.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paladino, M. P., Mazzurega, M., Pavani, F., & Schubert, T. W. (2010). Synchronous multisensory stimulation blurs self-other boundaries. Psychological Science, 21(9), 1202–1207.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Penfield, W., & Rasmussen, T. (1950). The Cerebral cortex of man: a clinical study of localization of function. New York: Macmillan.

  • Ramachandran, V. S., Krause, B., & Case, L. K. (2011). The phantom head. Perception, 40(3), 367–370.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ramakonar, H., Franz, E. A., & Lind, C. R. (2011). The rubber hand illusion and its application to clinical neuroscience. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 18(12), 1596–1601.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rohde, M., Di Luca, M., & Ernst, M. O. (2011). The Rubber Hand Illusion: feeling of Ownership and Proprioceptive Drift Do Not Go Hand in Hand. PLoS ONE, 6(6), e21659.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, B., Ehrsson, H. H., Antfolk, C., Cipriani, C., Sebelius, F., & Lundborg, G. (2009). Referral of sensation to an advanced humanoid robotic hand prosthesis. Scandinavian Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hand Surgery, 43(5), 260–266.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schicke, T., Bauer, F., & Roder, B. (2009). Interactions of different body parts in peripersonal space: how vision of the foot influences tactile perception at the hand. Experimental Brain Research, 192(4), 703–715.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shimada, S., Fukuda, K., & Hiraki, K. (2009). Rubber hand illusion under delayed visual feedback. PLoS One, 4(7), e6185.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris, M., Carpenter, L., James, D., & Fotopoulou, A. (2010). Hands only illusion: multisensory integration elicits sense of ownership for body parts but not for non-corporeal objects. Experimental Brain Research, 204(3), 343–352.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris, M., & Haggard, P. (2005). The rubber hand illusion revisited: visuotactile integration and self-attribution. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31(1), 80–91.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris, M., Hesse, M. D., Boy, C., Haggard, P., & Fink, G. R. (2007). Neural signatures of body ownership: a sensory network for bodily self-consciousness. Cerebral Cortex, 17(10), 45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Beers, R. J., Sittig, A. C., & Denier van der Gon, J. J. (1998). The precision of proprioceptive position sense. Experimental Brain Research, 122(4), 367–377.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Beers, R. J., Wolpert, D. M., & Haggard, P. (2002). When Feeling Is More Important Than Seeing in Sensorimotor Adaptation. Current Biology, 12, 834–837.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Elk, M., Forget, J., & Blanke, O. (2013). The effect of limb crossing and limb congruency on multisensory integration in peripersonal space for the upper and lower extremities. Consciousness and Cognition, 22(2), 545–555.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, E. H. (1846). Der Tastsinn und das Gemeingefühl. In R. Wagner (Ed.), Handwörterbuch der Physiologie. Braunschweig: Vieweg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welch, R. B., & Warren, D. H. (1986). Intersensory Interaction. In L. Kaufman, & J. P. Thomas (Eds.), Handbook of Perception and Human Performance New York: Wiley-Interscience.

Download references

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Manfred Häfke at Technische Universität Darmstadt, who built the apparatus to elicit the RHI and RFI.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Work and Engineering Psychology Research Group, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Mareike Flögel, Karl Theodor Kalveram & Joachim Vogt

  2. Institute of Experimental Psychology, University of Duesseldorf, Darmstadt, Germany

    Karl Theodor Kalveram

  3. School of Psychology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Olten, Switzerland

    Oliver Christ

Authors
  1. Mareike Flögel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Karl Theodor Kalveram
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Oliver Christ
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Joachim Vogt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mareike Flögel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Flögel, M., Kalveram, K.T., Christ, O. et al. Application of the rubber hand illusion paradigm: comparison between upper and lower limbs. Psychological Research 80, 298–306 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-015-0650-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-015-0650-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation