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The distinction between first-person perspective and third-person perspective in virtual bodily self-consciousness

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Abstract

The distinction between the first-person perspective (1PP) and the third-person perspective (3PP) has been widely regarded as fundamental and rigid, and many researchers hold that genuine bodily illusions can only be experienced from the 1PP. We applied VR technology to investigate whether this mainstream view is correct. In our experiments, the participants were immersed in a VR environment in which they saw a life-sized virtual body either from the 1PP or from the 3PP. They either passively received tactile stimulations and/or actively interacted with a virtual soccer ball. Our VR system created novel visuo-motor-tactile correlations between the real and the virtual world: when the participant interacted with a real plastic soccer ball, he/she would feel corresponding tactile sensations and see the avatar performing the exact same movements. We found that a clear sense of ownership over the avatar was induced not only in the 1PP condition but also in the Passive-3PP and the Active-3PP conditions. We also observed evidence suggesting that it is possible to experience one’s body-location, 1PP-location, as well as self-location, both from the 1PP and from the 3PP. Together, we demonstrate that there is in fact no fundamental gap between embodied 1PP and embodied 3PP in the virtual world.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information file.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Yun-Yu He, Chi-Hong Chen, Yi-Jan Wang, Tai-Yuan Chang, Hsiang-Yin Wu, Shang-Yi Chuang and Ssu-Ching Huang for their assistance in our lab. We would also like to thank Professor Chen-Gia Tsai from the Graduate Institute of Musicology for the SCR equipment. Yen-Tung Lee is funded by 2023 National Science and Technology Council Taiwanese Overseas Pioneers Grants (TOP Grants) for PhD Candidates. Finally, this study was supported by National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan (project: NSTC 110-2410-H-002-142-MY2) and by the Empower Vocational Education Research Center of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST).

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Ministry of Science and Technology (NSTC 110–2410-H-002–142-MY2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Empower Vocational Education Research Center, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Wei-Kai Liou

  2. Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Wen-Hsiang Lin & Sufen Chen

  3. Department of Philosophy, Western University, London, Canada

    Yen-Tung Lee

  4. Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University, London, Canada

    Yen-Tung Lee

  5. Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

    Sufen Chen

  6. Department of Philosophy, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Caleb Liang

  7. Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Caleb Liang

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  1. Wei-Kai Liou
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Contributions

CL designed all experiments; W-KL provided VR technology; W-HL, conducted the experiments; SC, Y-TL, W-HL and CL analyzed the data; CL, Y-TL and W-KL wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caleb Liang.

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Conflict of interest

Informed consent to participate was acquired from all participants. The persons whose body shown in the Figures gave their written informed consent to publish. All experiments were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. This study was performed in accordance with the regulations of, and was approved by, the Research Ethics Committee of National Taiwan University (NTU-REC: 202012HM035). The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Liou, WK., Lin, WH., Lee, YT. et al. The distinction between first-person perspective and third-person perspective in virtual bodily self-consciousness. Virtual Reality 28, 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-023-00907-8

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