Virtual Reality in the Neuroscience of Multisensory Integration and Consciousness of Bodily Self
Philip H. Tseng, Chi-Hung Juan · Journal of Neuroscience and Neuroengineering · 2013
In normal situations, we feel that our awareness resides inside our body. This concept of self-consciousness, as well as how it interacts with one’s body boundary, has been a central question in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. In the past five years, studies utilizing virtual reality technology have discovered that our consciousness of bodily self involves multisensory integration, with vision playing an especially important role. Carefully matching the visual and tactile events in time, but not in space, can then induce out-of-body experience as well as false ownership of other limbs and bodies. Here we briefly review studies that capitalize on the visual and temporal strength of virtual reality, as well as their results that shed light on the issue of multisensory integration and body ownership.