Dimensions of Virtual Body Ownership
Overview
Users experience the perception of virtual bodies in immersive and semi immersive virtual environments.
In this project, we explore different dimensions of virtual body ownership in order to assess characteristics and define measurements. Body ownership can be described as accepting the body as the own, as the source of all senses and perception. To achieve such an illusion in Virtual Reality, different influential aspects come into play. These can be characterized in bottom-up factors of cognitive processing, such as visio-motor coherence and visio-tactile coherence, and top-down factors (i.e., learned/memory) such as perspective and visual appearance. In multiple studies using different apparatus, we explore which dimension affects the perception of latent factors, that we identified as control (agency), acceptance (ownership) and change (the level of perceived adaptation and change of body schema).
A desired outcome is a validated measurement instrument as well as the understanding of changes in perceived body schema. We used several tracking and display technologies and different methods for the creation and animation of virtual characters representing the users, amongst those photogrammetry. Applications are for example the areas of medicine, training, diagnoses, and therapy. Related projects can also be found at embodiment lab.
Demo
Find a Demo for this project here.
News
