Buddha's ear illusion: Immediate and extensive earlobe deformation through visuotactile stimulation

Abstract

The classical body ownership illusion, such as the rubber hand illusion, is achieved through appropriate proprioceptive displacement within temporal and spatial constraints that do not exceed the limits of proprioceptive flexibility. In the 2023 Best Illusion of the Year Contest, we introduced Buddha's ear illusion (BEI), which creates the illusion of owning a dramatically deformed earlobe through immediate visuotactile stimulation and seemingly challenges classical proprioceptive boundaries. The laboratory experiment examined the mechanics of this illusion, revealing a significant interaction between tactile earlobe pulling and visual miming that contributed to the enhanced perception of earlobe stretch. Importantly, 88% of the participants confirmed the illusory earlobe stretch (a rating of +4 or higher on a 7-point scale). More than half reported an earlobe descent of >10 cm within a 10-s visuotactile stimulation. The findings suggest that BEI operates on a distinct principle separate from proprioceptive modulation in contrast to classical ownership illusions.