Why do we feel that we own our body?

If we ponder what the the Metaverse will look like in 10 years we might think of a world in which you can enter a virtual environment totally and with all your senses, not just the eye. This is the vision of numerous science fiction novels like "Snow Crash" or "Otherland".

If you have read "Otherland" or similar novels you will remember that one of the issues discussed is the danger of losing the connection to your own body if you dive too deeply into the virtual world. You fail to be able to "come back" and fall into some kind of a coma.

All fiction?

The German Magazine "Gehirn & Geist" has an article titled: "Why do we feel that we own our body?"

The Swedish researcher Henrik Ehrsson from the Karolinska Institute approached this question experimentally and I must say I was very surprised that this was still an open issue and that research was going on in this area.

The findings her replicate my own experiences, though (from a very "scientific" point of view, of course):

It certainly IS possible, to identify with your virtual body (avatar)! You can easily further this identification through emphasizing the connection between physical and virtual body by making them go through the same "experiences".

The summary of his experiments:

"His result suggests that the integration of correlated visual, tactile and proprioceptive information in multisensory cortical areas is a key mechanism of ownership." (Source)

How did he approach this issue?

In one of his experiments a VR head-up display is used to project the image of their own bodies several meters in front of the persons examined so that they can see themselves from behind.

In this moment the person perceives their own body from a meta-perspective, from outside - but their sense of "I" does not feel connected to the virtual image.

The next step is, that the subject of the experiment is poked lightly with a stick from behind and the person can see the same happening to the virtual image in front of them.

The coupling of these visual and tactile stimuli seems to lead to the impression of the subject that the body he or she perceives some meters away is their own. (This is what the subjects said when interviewed during the experiment.)

Furthermore the subject is asked to close their eyes and move through the room. The virtual image is removed before they open their eyes and they are asked to resume their former position in the room.
the result is that the subjects don't go back to the spot where they were but where their virtual image had been before.

What does this have to do with the Metaverse?

In my opinion this experiment and the general question of our identity with our body shows that there are strong "forces" that people will be subject to in a future Metaverse - and which might even be effective in virtual worlds today. It shows that the fictional ideas about the deep effects of simulation and virtualization are probably closer to (biological) reality and to current findings of researchers than we think.

This finding has implications for our understanding of self-consciousness. Furthermore, it could lead to new clinical and industrial applications where the sense of body ownership is projected onto artificial and virtual bodies. (Source)

From my own experience I can say: In the days when I was playing "World of Warcraft" intensely I started dreaming about my experiences. And even today I have the memory of events during a raid as if I had been there in person and not just seen it on a screen.

It will be interesting to follow the research in this area and to see what discoveries the future has in hold for us.

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