Kinematic Altering Illusion : Acquiring soft body perception by wearing octopus arm-shaped VR avatar

Abstract

Many previous studies have reported on the transformation of perception/behavior, body image, and body schema due to the use of avatars in VR space. However, there are few previous studies on those transformations associated with the wearing of avatars with non-innate physical characteristics such as animal avatars, leaving many unexplored areas. In this study, we focused on the octopus as an example of an animal with non-native physical characteristics such as softness and structural consistency from arm to fingertip. Therefore, we developed an avatar that externally mimics the arm of an octopus, a box-shaped avatar, and a human arm-shaped avatar, and measured the movement of the right upper limb during manipulation and the sensory and cognitive changes after manipulation. The results showed that subjects felt their bodies became softer and their body image changed after manipulating the avatar that imitated an octopus arm. The possibility of behavioral change was also confirmed with the octopus avater.