The malleable-self experience: transforming body image by integrating visual and whole-body haptic stimuli

The Malleable-Self Experience comprises the integration of the visual element of virtual reality (VR) with the whole-body haptic sensations of the Synesthesia X1 haptic chair. The goal is to induce a provocative experience that expands one's understanding of the self by creating a malleable perception of the body image. We explore the effects of visual and whole-body haptic integration on augmenting body image during dynamic transformations of visual representations of the body in VR. We design the plausibility of these perceptual augmentations using a specific sequence of multisensory events: (1) establishing body ownership of a virtual body anchored in the same self-located space as the participant, (2) separating the virtual body to hover above the participant's physical body, enhanced by accompanying haptic stimuli to increase proprioceptive uncertainty, and (3) transforming the virtual body with integrated visuo-haptic stimuli to sustain perceptual congruency.