2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
The subject sees and feels the touch of an invisible body
Swedish psychologists from the Karolinska Institute were able to create in the subjects the feeling of an invisible body. The article was published in Scientific Reports.
Scientists have suggested that it is possible to create the feeling of an invisible body, relying on the well-known "illusion of the third hand." The researchers conducted a series of experiments to "replace the body" of a volunteer with a dummy and empty space. The subject had a stereo display attached to his head, while the cameras broadcasting the image were mounted on a dummy or simply on a bracket above an empty space. The experimenters simultaneously touched the abdomen and limbs, while the subject through the cameras saw a dummy or emptiness being touched, and felt the touch.
The researchers obtained an interesting result by adding a stress test to the experiment. During the experiment, volunteers were suddenly asked to raise their heads at some point, and the screens displayed a pre-recorded image of a group of strangers looking at the subject with a serious expression. In the case of replacing the body with a dummy, the volunteer's heart rate increased, which is a natural reaction to such situations. But in the case of the invisible body, the pulse remained even, since the person was confident in his invisibility.
The "third hand illusion" is widely known and is often used as an example of demonstrating the nuances of the perception of the human brain. In the subject's field of vision, the real hand is replaced with an artificial one, after which for some time they simultaneously touch the real and artificial hand in the same places. After a few minutes, a person has a persistent feeling that he feels an artificial hand. Moreover, experiments have shown that the same results can be achieved without an artificial limb, "touching" an empty space, which creates the feeling of an "invisible hand" in the subject.
