The avatar written upon my body: Embodied interfaces and user experience

Abstract

There is a growing consensus that the perception of our body is emergent and has a plasticity that can be affected through techniques such as the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI). Alongside this we are seeing increased capabilities in technologies that track and represent our movements on screen. This paper will examine these issues through the RHI and conditions such as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and consider the possibilities offered by these technologies for therapeutic use. It addition it will examine the issues raised for all users, asserting that we have reached a point where we can no longer afford assume that these are merely tools of representation. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.