身体意象是个体在意识层面对与身体有关的知觉、态度及信念,它的稳定性与可塑性一直存在争论。本研究使用方位追踪仪、数据手套及投影仪,通过2个实验考查虚拟手错觉中距离参照系对身体拥有感的影响。实验1在虚拟环境中采用经典橡胶手错觉的变式,考察同步性和虚拟手位置对拥有感的影响;实验2引入距离参照系,考察在不同参照条件下被试对同一个位置的虚拟手在不同同步情况下的拥有感错觉。研究结果发现:f1)无论是同步性还是距离都会对虚拟手错觉中的拥有感产生影响,即同步比不同步条件下、距离近比距离远条件下拥有感显著;(2)不同的距离参照系对同一位置的拥有感体验影响差异显著,先近后远的呈现方式会减弱错觉而先远后近的呈现方式则会加强错觉。这一发现与身体拥有感是受稳定的身体意象调节的假设并不一致。
Body image consists of a system of perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs pertaining to one’s own. The appearance of one’s own body “from the outside”, is thought to be an important component of body image, therefore many studies focus on the visual perceptual component of body image. The controversies concerning body image are not only between nature and nurture, but also about its stability. On the one hand, body image seems to play an important role whenever we need to recognize ourselves, it is easy for us to take it as a stable representation of our body. On the other hand, the studies of amputees who experience phantom limbs suggested a sense that one’s body image is itself a “phantom”, so it is also reasonable to think body image as something that is at least plastic. The rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm seems to be one of the appropriate ways to investigate this controversy about body image, since it could induce the experience of an artificial body part as becoming a real body part among normal people. This illusion was first reported by Botvinick and Cohen who placed a rubber hand in front of participants whose corresponding real hand was hidden from sight. When the real hand and the visible rubber hand were stroked in a synchronous fashion, participants reported to experience the rubber hand as being a part of their body. Studies concerning the factors affect the induction or reduction of RHI suggested that the RHI depends not only on synchronous stimulations, but also on the match between the rubber hand and pre-existing body images. However, till now, no studies have combined top-down and bottom-up to seek the answer for the plasticity of body image. In the present study, we adopted distance reference as a new factor to investigate the plasticity of body image. Our study included two experiments both of which were performed in a virtual environment. In the first experiment, we simulated the traditional rubber hand illusion to determine the influences of synchronicity and location on