Our selves but not our bodies
Scientists in Sweden have taken a step toward better understanding of the connection between the perception of self and the body. By tricking the participant using cameras and illusions, the scientists created a virtual out-of-body experience.
Shaking hands with yourself is an amusing out-of-body experience. The illusion of having your stomach slashed with a kitchen knife, not so much.
Both sensations, however, felt real to most participants in a Swedish science project exploring how people can be tricked into the false perception of owning another body.
In a study presented Tuesday, neuroscientists at Stockholm's renowned Karolinska Institute show how they got volunteers wearing virtual reality goggles to experience the illusion of swapping bodies with a mannequin and a real person.
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