Effects of Visual-Vestibular Conflicts Caused by Visual Input on Out-of-Body Experience Induced by Visual-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality

Out-of-body experience (OBE) is a feeling that people observe and feel his/her own body from somewhere outside the physical body. In this paper, we examined the effects of visual-vestibular conflict caused by visual input on OBE induced by visual-tactile stimulation in 15 healthy young participants with virtual reality (VR). We fabricated the visual-vestibular conflict by giving rotating VR scene to the participants. Four experimental conditions were designed. Each participant completed a questionnaire and a proprioceptive drift test in VR. Results showed that the participants experienced subjective alteration of body ownership under conditions with synchronous visual-tactile stimulation, regardless of the presence of rotation VR scene, also revealed a significantly larger drift with rotation VR scene, compared to without, when synchronous visual-tactile stimulation was applied. But such elevation disappeared under conditions without visual-tactile stimulation. We concluded that the OBE induced by synchronous visual-tactile stimulation is modulated by visual-vestibular conflict.