Relationships Between Personality Features and the Rubber Hand Illusion: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The rubber hand illusion paradigm allows investigating human body ownership by inducing an illusion of owning a life-sized fake hand. Despite the wide consensus on the fact that integration of multisensory signals is the main interpretative framework of the rubber hand illusion, increasing amount of data show that additional factors might contribute to the emergence of the illusion and, in turn, explain the strong inter-individual differences of the illusory patterns. Here, we explored whether and how personality features contribute to the emergence of the illusion by administering to healthy participants the rubber hand illusion paradigm along with two wellknown personality tests, i.e., the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and the Rorschach test. Results showed that two Rorschach domains (i.e., "Perception and Thinking Problems" and "Self and Other Representation") were positively correlated with the illusory mislocalization of the own left hand toward the fake hand. Further analyses suggested that while the tendency to perceive unconventionally is related to mislocalizing the own hand toward the fake hand, the association of the RHI index and other personality features measured by the Rorschach remain uncertain. However, our findings in general suggest that personality features might have a role in the emergence of the rubber hand illusion. This, in turn, could explain the high inter-individual variability of the illusory effects.

Exploring the Embodiment of a Virtual Hand in a Spatially Augmented Respiratory Biofeedback Setting

“…Extending the sample size will allow for controlling factors based on the subjects' traits and habits (e.g., playing videogames or sports, smoking). Importantly, their body image and interoceptive awareness should be assessed (Mehling et al, 2012) alongside the personality features (Burin et al, 2019). Further investigations must also demonstrate if the effects of the SARB-based training persist over time, and if an actual generalization of the embodiment of the 3D model of a prosthesis can be observed for the actual device (Laffranchi et al, 2020), possibly exploiting the latter in game-like XR remote trainings designed to engage the users.…”

“…Extending the sample size will allow for controlling factors based on the subjects' traits and habits (e.g., playing videogames or sports, smoking). Importantly, their body image and interoceptive awareness should be assessed (Mehling et al, 2012 ) alongside the personality features (Burin et al, 2019 ).…”

Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) for assessing disordered thought and perception.

“…In more recently completed R-PAS studies, Burin et al (2019) provided preliminary Italian data suggesting that a composite of all variables described in this chapter predicted who was susceptible to the rubber hand illusion by incorrectly locating their own out of sight left hand closer to a just stroked visible fake hand. This illusion correlates with psychosis-proneness (e.g., Germine et al, 2013).…”

Repeated Exposure to Illusory Sense of Body Ownership and Agency Over a Moving Virtual Body Improves Executive Functioning and Increases Prefrontal Cortex Activity in the Elderly

“…The same illusion in the elderly is constant across the longterm study since there are no differences between sessions of the intervention in both groups. Independently of the experimental procedures, there might be a certain level of individuality, personality traits, or undetected components that establish the singular adherence to the multisensory illusion (Marotta et al, 2016;Burin et al, 2019b).…”