Scrambled body differentiates body part ownership from the full body illusion

Illusory body ownership can be induced in a body part or a full body by visual-motor synchronisation. A previous study indicated that an invisible full body illusion can be induced by the synchronous movement of only the hands and feet. The difference between body part ownership and the full body illusion has not been explained in detail because there is no method for separating these two illusions. To develop a method to do so, we scrambled or randomised the positions of the hands and feet and compared it with the normal layout stimulus by manipulating visual-motor synchronisation. In Experiment 1, participants observed the stimuli from a third-person perspective, and the questionnaire results showed that the scrambled body stimulus induced only body part ownership, while the normal layout stimulus induced both body part ownership and full body ownership when the stimuli were synchronous with participants’ actions. In Experiment 2, we found similar results as with the first-person perspective stimuli in a questionnaire. We did not find significant skin conductance response difference between any conditions in either Experiment 2 or 3. These results suggest that a spatial relationship is necessary for the full body illusion, but not for body part ownership.