How to Elicit Ownership and Agency for an Avatar Presented in the Third-Person Perspective: The Effect of Visuo-Motor and Tactile Feedback

Abstract

The realism of experience of using a virtual body in virtual reality (VR) is associated with ownership (one’s self-attribution of a body) has been shown. However, whether or not ownership can be elicited for a virtual body presented by the third-person perspective is under debate. This study investigated the effect of multimodal presentations on the ownership of a male virtual body presented in the third-person perspective in three conditions (Visuo-tactile, visuo-motor, visuo-motor-tactile condition) (N = 40). We compared the illusory effect of ownership in the three conditions in male and female participants using a questionnaire and a 2 × 3 mixed-design ANOVA. Our study revealed that the male participants in the visuo-motor-tactile condition affirmed moderate (+1) of ownership, but the female participants did not. Ownership was significantly higher in the visuo-tactile (p