Today we wanted to feature an interesting experiment facilitated by Tobias Kauffmann and Dmitry Kobak from the University of Freiburg (Mehring Lab). In both videos they are working with test individuals and they take several minutes to make them feel that the rubber hand was their own by brushing both their real hand and the rubber hand, which is in vision range of the test individuals.
In the first take, with the gentleman wearing a green plaid shirt, the test person is aware of what is going to happen and is still startled by the effect. In the second video, with the gentleman wearing a blue shirt, the test person does not know that he will be attacked by a fork and is reacting a lot stronger, retracting his actual arm. The brushing, that is done on both rubber and real arms, irritates the brain of the testers in a way to make them believe that the rubber arm is their own. An interesting showcase. Thanks to these students and testers!
YouTube: Rubber Hand illusion, take 1
YouTube: Rubber Hand illusion, take 2
Photo credit: The feature image was taken by Emily Kneeter.
Editorial notice: The feature image is not directly related to the videos shown. It only serves as a representative graphic.
