To produce this effect, the scientists had to first “trick” the senses of the participants. The subjects were asked to put on a helmet-mounted (HMD) monitor, which received an image recorded in real time by cameras mounted on the “head” of the dummy.
Then, for several minutes, the subject received light shocks with a pointer in various areas of the body, observing on the monitor exactly the same shocks that the dummy received. After several minutes of such manipulations, the illusion of being in someone else’s body became so strong that the volunteers felt pronounced anxiety when they began to perform dangerous actions with the dummy, for example, holding sharp objects over it. Responses to threatening actions with a dummy were recorded by measuring the electrical conductance of the participants’ skin.
Scientists were able to achieve a similar effect in an experiment involving two people. In this case, the subject and his “double” could be of different sexes, be in different positions and have different heights or constitutions. The only thing that the researchers failed to achieve was to make the participants associate themselves with inanimate objects that do not resemble the human body.
According to Swedish scientists, the unusual effect they have achieved can be used in the treatment of a number of mental disorders associated with impaired perception of the image and proportions of their own body, in particular – anorexia.
The research results were published in the journal .
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