The body fades away: investigating the effects of transparency of an embodied virtual body on pain threshold and body ownership

Article

Martini, M., Kilteni, Konstantina, Maselli, Antonella and Sanchez-Vives, Maria V. 2015. The body fades away: investigating the effects of transparency of an embodied virtual body on pain threshold and body ownership. Scientific Reports. 5, p. 13948. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13948

Publication dates
Authors	Martini, M., Kilteni, Konstantina, Maselli, Antonella and Sanchez-Vives, Maria V.
Abstract	The ffeelffing off “ownershffip” over an external dummy/vffirtual body (or body part) has been proven to have both physffiologffical and behavffioural consequences. For ffinstance, the vffisffion off an “embodffied” dummy or vffirtual body can modulate paffin perceptffion. However, the ffimpact off partffial or total ffinvffisffibffilffity off the body on physffiology and behavffiour has been hardly explored sffince ffit presents obvffious dffifficultffies ffin the real world. In thffis study we explored how body transparency affects both body ownershffip and paffin threshold. By means off vffirtual realffity, we presented healthy partfficffipants wffith a vffirtual co-located body wffith ffour dffifferent levels off transparency, whffile partfficffipants were tested ffor paffin threshold by ffincreasffing ramps off heat stffimulatffion. We ffound that the strength off the body ownershffip ffillusffion decreases when the body gets more transparent. Nevertheless, ffin the condffitffions where the body was semffi-transparent, hffigher levels off ownershffip over a see-through body resulted ffin an ffincreased paffin sensffitffivffity. Vffirtual body ownershffip can be used ffor the development off paffin management ffinterventffions. However, we demonstrate that provffidffing ffinvffisffibffilffity off the body does not ffincrease paffin threshold. Thereffore, body transparency ffis not a good strategy to decrease paffin ffin clffinffical contexts, yet thffis remaffins to be tested.
Journal	Scientific Reports
Journal citation	5, p. 13948
ISSN	2045-2322
Year	2015
Publisher	Nature Publishing Group
Accepted author manuscript	Martini et al., 2015. The Body Fades Away.pdf License CC BY
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13948
Print	29 Sep 2015
Publication process dates
Deposited	29 Sep 2015
Accepted	12 Aug 2015
Funder	VERE
	FP7 FET EU
	EU FP7 AA
	European Research Council

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