Mr Fantastic Meets The Invisible Man: An Illusion of Invisible Finger Stretching

Ailish Byrne; Catherine Preston

doi:10.1177/0301006618821068

Mr Fantastic Meets The Invisible Man: An Illusion of Invisible Finger Stretching

Ailish Byrne, Catherine Preston

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Our brain continually integrates bottom-up sensory signals to create a coherent experience of the body. This bodily experience is also constrained by top-down knowledge of body appearance. However, the extent of these constraints has been challenged. Here, we explore top-down limits on body ownership with the invisible finger stretching illusion, in which synchronous visuotactile stimulation applied to the real fingers and an area of empty space elicits the illusion of owning elongating fingers. The results demonstrate that it is possible to experience stretchy fingers like Mr Fantastic without visual stimuli of a fake hand, even if we do not actually feel invisible like The Invisible Man.

Original language	English
Number of pages	4
Journal	Perception
Early online date	3 Jan 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006618821068
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 3 Jan 2019

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s) 2019. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

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Cite this

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abstract = "Our brain continually integrates bottom-up sensory signals to create a coherent experience of the body. This bodily experience is also constrained by top-down knowledge of body appearance. However, the extent of these constraints has been challenged. Here, we explore top-down limits on body ownership with the invisible finger stretching illusion, in which synchronous visuotactile stimulation applied to the real fingers and an area of empty space elicits the illusion of owning elongating fingers. The results demonstrate that it is possible to experience stretchy fingers like Mr Fantastic without visual stimuli of a fake hand, even if we do not actually feel invisible like The Invisible Man.",

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