Two-dimensional rubber-hand illusion: the Dorian Gray hand illusion

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22134808-00002473

The rubber-hand illusion provides a window into body representation and consciousness. It has been found that body-ownership extended to numerous hand-like objects. Interestingly, the vast majority of these objects were three-dimensional. We adopted this paradigm by using hand drawings to investigate whether rubber-hand illusion could be extended to two-dimensional hand samples, and we measured skin conductance responses and behavioural variables. The fact that this illusion extended to two-dimensional stimuli reveals the dominant role of top–down information on visual perception for body representation and consciousness.