Introduction

When generating our body image—our impression of the position of our bodies in space—our minds use both visual and tactile information, integrating all the information available from the senses to determine our current location. If our senses receive inaccurate information, sometimes our minds can be tricked into creating inaccurate body images, resulting in out-of-body experiences.

For example, in the Rubber Hand illusion, the observer is tricked into feeling like a rubber hand is, in fact, their own hand. The observer knows cognitively that the rubber hand couldn’t possibly be their real hand, but the illusion is so powerful that it feels as if the observer’s hand is located at the position of the rubber hand! This is accomplished by pairing touch sensations on the observer’s real hand with visual sensations coming from the rubber hand. When the observer sees the rubber hand being stroked by a brush at the same time they feel their own hand being stroked by a brush, their mind alters its body image to feel as if the rubber hand is their own hand.

Instructions

Click the play button on the video to watch a demonstration of the illusion.