scholarly journals The “embreathment” illusion highlights the role of breathing in corporeal awareness

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 420-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Monti ◽  
Giuseppina Porciello ◽  
Gaetano Tieri ◽  
Salvatore M. Aglioti
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Body Location ◽  
Specific Position ◽  
Embodied Agent ◽  
Corporeal Awareness ◽  
Virtual Body

Recent theories posit that physiological signals contribute to corporeal awareness, the basic feeling that one has a body (body ownership) that acts according to one’s will (body agency) and occupies a specific position (body location). Combining physiological recordings with immersive virtual reality, we found that an ecological mapping of real respiratory patterns onto a virtual body illusorily changes corporeal awareness. This new way of inducing a respiratory bodily illusion, called “embreathment,” revealed that breathing is almost as important as visual appearance for inducing body ownership and more important than any other cue for body agency. These effects were moderated by individual levels of interoception, as assessed through a standard heartbeat-counting task and a new “pneumoception” task. By showing that respiratory, visual, and spatial signals exert a specific and weighted influence on the fundamental feeling that one is an embodied agent, we pave the way for a comprehensive hierarchical model of corporeal awareness. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our body is the only object we sense from the inside; however, it is unclear how much inner physiology contributes to the global sensation of having a body and controlling it. We combine respiration recordings with immersive virtual reality and find that making a virtual body breathe like the real body gives an illusory sense of ownership and agency over the avatar, elucidating the role of a key physiological process like breathing in corporeal awareness.

scholarly journals 'Embreathment' illusion reveals hierarchical influence of respiratory, visual and spatial signals on corporeal awareness

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Monti ◽  
Giuseppina Porciello ◽  
Gaetano Tieri ◽  
Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Physiological Signals ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Body Location ◽  
Specific Position ◽  
Embodied Agent ◽  
Bodily Illusion ◽  
Corporeal Awareness

Recent theories posit that physiological signals contribute to corporeal awareness – the basic feeling that one has a body (body ownership) which acts according to one’s will (body agency) and occupies a specific position (body location). However, these signals are notoriously difficult to manipulate. Using immersive virtual reality, we found that an ecological mapping of real respiratory patterns onto a virtual body led to illusory changes of corporeal awareness. This new bodily illusion, called ‘embreathment’, revealed that breathing uniquely influences corporeal awareness over and above other bodily cues. In particular, breathing turned out to be almost as important as visual appearance for inducing body ownership, and more important than any other cue for body agency. By showing that respiratory, visual and spatial signals exert an interoception-mediated, specific, and weighted influence on the fundamental feeling that one is an embodied agent, we pave the way for a comprehensive hierarchical model of corporeal awareness.

Harm, Consent, and Virtual Selves in Full-Body Ownership Illusions: Real Concerns for Immersive Virtual Reality Therapies

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-591
Author(s):  
MARIA BOTERO ◽  
ELISE WHATLEY
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Domestic Abuse ◽  
Violent Offenders ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Ethical Research ◽  
Harmful Effects ◽  
Full Body ◽  
Virtual Body

AbstractThis paper analyzes in the use of virtual reality when used to induce full-body ownership in violent offenders in order to elicit empathetic feelings by allowing them to embody the virtual body of a victim of domestic abuse. The authors explore potentially harmful effects to individuals participating in this kind of therapy and question whether consent is fully informed. The paper concludes with guidelines for ethical research and rehabilitation using this innovative technology.

scholarly journals The role of vision and proprioception in self-motion encoding: An immersive virtual reality study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rena Bayramova ◽  
Irene Valori ◽  
Phoebe E. McKenna-Plumley ◽  
Claudio Zandonella Callegher ◽  
Teresa Farroni
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Proprioceptive Information ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Starting Position ◽  
Body Location ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Multisensory Input

AbstractPast research on the advantages of multisensory input for remembering spatial information has mainly focused on memory for objects or surrounding environments. Less is known about the role of cue combination in memory for own body location in space. In a previous study, we investigated participants’ accuracy in reproducing a rotation angle in a self-rotation task. Here, we focus on the memory aspect of the task. Participants had to rotate themselves back to a specified starting position in three different sensory conditions: a blind condition, a condition with disrupted proprioception, and a condition where both vision and proprioception were reliably available. To investigate the difference between encoding and storage phases of remembering proprioceptive information, rotation amplitude and recall delay were manipulated. The task was completed in a real testing room and in immersive virtual reality (IVR) simulations of the same environment. We found that proprioceptive accuracy is lower when vision is not available and that performance is generally less accurate in IVR. In reality conditions, the degree of rotation affected accuracy only in the blind condition, whereas in IVR, it caused more errors in both the blind condition and to a lesser degree when proprioception was disrupted. These results indicate an improvement in encoding own body location when vision and proprioception are optimally integrated. No reliable effect of delay was found.

scholarly journals The Bodily Illusion in Adverse Conditions: Virtual Arm Ownership During Visuomotor Mismatch

Perception ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 477-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Caola ◽  
Martina Montalti ◽  
Alessandro Zanini ◽  
Antony Leadbetter ◽  
Matteo Martini
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Arm Movements ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
First Person Perspective ◽  
Subjective Reports ◽  
Bodily Illusion

Classically, body ownership illusions are triggered by cross-modal synchronous stimulations, and hampered by multisensory inconsistencies. Nonetheless, the boundaries of such illusions have been proven to be highly plastic. In this immersive virtual reality study, we explored whether it is possible to induce a sense of body ownership over a virtual body part during visuomotor inconsistencies, with or without the aid of concomitant visuo-tactile stimulations. From a first-person perspective, participants watched a virtual tube moving or an avatar’s arm moving, with or without concomitant synchronous visuo-tactile stimulations on their hand. Three different virtual arm/tube speeds were also investigated, while all participants kept their real arms still. The subjective reports show that synchronous visuo-tactile stimulations effectively counteract the effect of visuomotor inconsistencies, but at slow arm movements, a feeling of body ownership might be successfully induced even without concomitant multisensory correspondences. Possible therapeutical implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Embodying self-compassion within virtual reality and its effects on patients with depression

BJPsych Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline J. Falconer ◽  
Aitor Rovira ◽  
John A. King ◽  
Paul Gilbert ◽  
Angus Antley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Depression Severity ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
Clinical Potential ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Virtual Body

BackgroundSelf-criticism is a ubiquitous feature of psychopathology and can be combatted by increasing levels of self-compassion. However, some patients are resistant to self-compassion.AimsTo investigate whether the effects of self-identification with virtual bodies within immersive virtual reality could be exploited to increase self-compassion in patients with depression.MethodWe developed an 8-minute scenario in which 15 patients practised delivering compassion in one virtual body and then experienced receiving it from themselves in another virtual body.ResultsIn an open trial, three repetitions of this scenario led to significant reductions in depression severity and self-criticism, as well as to a significant increase in self-compassion, from baseline to 4-week follow-up. Four patients showed clinically significant improvement.ConclusionsThe results indicate that interventions using immersive virtual reality may have considerable clinical potential and that further development of these methods preparatory to a controlled trial is now warranted.

Visual appearance of a virtual upper limb modulates the temperature of the real hand: a thermal imaging study in Immersive Virtual Reality

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1141-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaetano Tieri ◽  
Annamaria Gioia ◽  
Michele Scandola ◽  
Enea F. Pavone ◽  
Salvatore M. Aglioti
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Thermal Imaging ◽  
Imaging Study ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
The Real ◽  
Real Hand

scholarly journals Virtual body ownership and its consequences for implicit racial bias are dependent on social context

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 201848
Author(s):  
Domna Banakou ◽  
Alejandro Beacco ◽  
Solène Neyret ◽  
Marta Blasco-Oliver ◽  
Sofia Seinfeld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Black People ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Short Exposure ◽  
White Female ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Virtual Body

When people hold implicit biases against a group they typically engage in discriminatory behaviour against group members. In the context of the implicit racial bias of ‘White' against ‘Black' people, it has been shown several times that implicit bias is reduced after a short exposure of embodiment in a dark-skinned body in virtual reality. Embodiment usually leads to the illusion of ownership over the virtual body, irrespective of its skin colour. Previous studies have been carried out in virtual scenarios that are affectively neutral or positive. Here, we show that when the scenario is affectively negative the illusion of body ownership of White participants over a White body is lessened, and implicit bias is higher for White participants in a Black virtual body. The study was carried out with 92 White female participants, in a between-groups design with two factors: BodyType (their virtual body was White or Black) and a surrounding Crowd was Negative, Neutral or Positive towards the participant. We argue that negative affect prevents the formation of new positive associations with Black and distress leads to disownership of the virtual body. Although virtual reality is often thought of as an ‘empathy machine' our results suggest caution, that this may not be universally the case.

scholarly journals Attentional Skills in Soccer: Evaluating the Involvement of Attention in Executing a Goalkeeping Task in Virtual Reality

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9341
Author(s):  
Andria Shimi ◽  
Vanessa Tsestou ◽  
Marios Hadjiaros ◽  
Kleanthis Neokleous ◽  
Marios Avraamides
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Attention Network Test ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Physical Abilities

Physical abilities are essential to goalkeepers in soccer but the involved cognitive abilities for these players have only recently become the focus of extensive research. In this study, we investigated the role of different aspects of attention in a basic goalkeeping task in soccer. One hundred participants assumed the role of a goalkeeper in immersive virtual reality (VR) and carried out a task that entailed blocking balls shot towards their goal. In addition, they carried out two computerized tasks each assessing different attentional abilities: the Attention Network Test provided scores for three well-established networks of attention, namely the alerting, the orienting, and the executive control. The Whack-a-Mole task evaluated inhibitory control, by measuring performance in a classic Go/No-Go task and tapping on response inhibition. A regression analysis revealed that all three attention network scores contributed to performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Furthermore, performance in the Whack-a-Mole task correlated significantly with performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Overall, findings confirm that cognitive skills relating to attention play a critical role in the efficient execution of soccer-specific tasks. These findings have important implications for the training of cognitive skills in sports.

A critical analysis of the functional parameters of the quiet eye using immersive virtual reality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Harris ◽  
Mark Wilson ◽  
Samuel James Vine
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Visually Guided ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
Quiet Eye ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Gaze Anchoring ◽  
And Control ◽  
Eye Location

Directing ocular fixations towards a target assists the planning and control of visually-guided actions. In far aiming tasks, the quiet eye, an instance of pre-movement gaze anchoring, has been extensively studied as a key performance variable. However, theories of quiet eye are yet to establish the exact functional role of the location and duration of the fixation. The present work used immersive virtual reality to manipulate key parameters of the quiet eye – location (experiment 1) and duration (experiment 2) – to test competing theoretical predictions about their importance. Across two pre-registered experiments, novice participants (n=127) completed a series of golf putts while their eye movements, putting accuracy, and putting kinematics were recorded. In experiment 1, participants’ pre-movement fixation was cued to locations on the ball, near the ball, and far from the ball. In experiment 2, long and short quiet eye durations were induced using auditory tones as cues to movement phases. Linear mixed effects models indicated that manipulations of location and duration had little effect on performance or movement kinematics. The findings suggest that, for novices, the spatial and temporal parameters of the final fixation may not be critical for movement pre-programming and may instead reflect attentional control or movement inhibition functions.

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