Differential effects of perceived hand location on the disruption of embodiment by apparent physical encroachment of the limb

Abstract

while much is known about the processes underlying the embodiment of non-corporeal objects, less research has been conducted to explore the mechanisms that prevent embodiment. The current study investigates the effect of violation of the human body template on embodiment of fake limbs by appearing to encroach the fake limb with a solid object. Encroachment of the limb disrupted embodiment, but only when the limb was far from the body. When the encroached limb was close to the body, it was not disembodied despite such clear violations of knowledge related to the body. The representation of the limb in the body schema was similarly robust to near-hand violations, suggesting that competing representations of the limb that are close to the body are preferred to those that are far from the body.

Keywords:

• Body ownership
• Body image
• Body schema
• Embodiment
• Body violation

Acknowledgments

C.P. was funded by ESRC grant (RES-000-22-3455), and the authors would like to thank Brid Dineen for assistance with data collection.