Think you're in control of your own body? A simple virtual-reality session could not only make you feel like an avatar's body is your own, but make you speak more like the digital character. First there was the rubber-hand illusion
, a classic experiment that showed syncing up someone's touch perceptions with what they see happening to a rubber hand can make them feel strongly that the fake body part is their own. Since its publication in 1998, this study has inspired all kinds of spinoffs. Some involve entire "rubber" bodies—researchers have swapped people into the bodies of giants and Barbies
, and used virtual reality to make them feel child-sized
. By playing the sound of a hammer hitting marble while they lightly tapped subjects' own hands, scientists have even made people feel like their hands are made of stone
. Mel Slater, a researcher at the University of ...
