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Body size illusions influence perceived size of objects: a validation of previous research in virtual reality

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Abstract

Previous research indicates that the size of the own body affects the judgment of objects’ size, depending on the amount of subjective ownership toward the body (Van der Hoort et al. in PLOS ONE 6(5):e20195, 2011). We are the first to transfer this own-body-size effect into a virtual environment. In a series of three experiments, participants (N = 68) had to embody small, medium, and large avatars and judge the size of objects. Body ownership was manipulated using synchronous and asynchronous touch. We also included a new paradigm with an additional change of perspective to induce stronger ownership (Experiment 2). Additionally, we assessed whether the visibility of the body during the judgment phase influenced the results (Experiment 3). In all three experiments, we found an overestimation in a small and an underestimation in a large body compared to a medium body. However, size estimation did not depend on the degree of ownership despite clear differences in self-reported ownership. Our results show that a virtual reality scenario does not require a visuotactile manipulation of ownership in order to evoke the own-body-size effect. Our validation of the effect in a virtual setting may be helpful for the design of clinical applications.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Laura Durrer for her contributions to the final design and for recruiting and testing participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Stefan Weber, Fred W. Mast & David Weibel

  2. Swiss Distance Learning University, Überlandstrasse 12, P.O. Box 265, 3900, Brig, Switzerland

    Stefan Weber

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  1. Stefan Weber
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  2. Fred W. Mast
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  3. David Weibel
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Correspondence to Stefan Weber.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Participants were treated according to the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki), and informed consent was obtained.

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Appendix: Ownership questionnaire

Appendix: Ownership questionnaire

Questions

  • During the experiment, there were times when …

  • … I felt as if the avatar’s body was my body (ownership).

  • … I had the feeling that I was looking at myself (ownership).

  • … it seemed as though the touch I felt was caused by the object touching the avatar (ownership).

  • … I had the feeling that I was lying in the same location as the avatar (location).

  • … I felt I could move the avatar, if I wanted to (agency).

  • … I felt as if I had two bodies (control question).

  • … the avatar began to resemble my own body in terms of shape, skin tone, or some other visual feature (control question).

Answer scale

  • Fully disagree O 1 O 2 O 3 O 4 O 5 O 6 O 7 Fully agree

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Weber, S., Mast, F.W. & Weibel, D. Body size illusions influence perceived size of objects: a validation of previous research in virtual reality. Virtual Reality 24, 385–397 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-019-00402-z

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