Feeling a hand that isn’t there Marco Scopesi
Will we ever be able to truly feel like we鈥檙e inhabiting a virtual world? A virtual reality twist on the classic rubber hand illusion suggests we can 鈥 and all it takes is a bit of magnetic brain stimulation.
Around 20 years ago, psychologists in Pennsylvania discovered that they could convince people that a rubber hand was their own. They placed it on a table in front of a volunteer, and stroked it while simultaneously also stroking the person鈥檚 actual hand. The experiment inspired further 鈥bodily illusion鈥 experiments that mess…
