Whose Body Is It Anyway?

摘要

About 10 years ago, psychologists in Pennsylvania discovered an amazing illusion. They found that they could convince people that a rubber hand was their own by putting it on a table in front of them while stroking it in the same way as their real hand (see box, far right, for a how-to guide). The now-famous "rubber hand illusion" was not only a mind-blowing party trick, it was also hugely important in understanding how sight, touch and "proprioception"-the sense of body position - combine to create a convincing feeling of body ownership, one of the foundations of self-consciousness (Nature, vol 391, p 756).