The Rubber Hand Illusion and Skin-to-Skin Touch: Does the Touch of Others Matter for Feeling Like Me?

Abstract

In this study we investigated if skin-to-skin touch moderates the effect of the Rubber Hand Illusion. Twenty participants (all right-handed) took part in the experiment. The participants’ own hands (hidden from view) were either stroked in synchrony (should induce the illusion) or asynchrony (control condition) with a rubber hand, using the experimenter’s own hand, a wide brush or a small brush. We found no significant difference for the stimulation types for the proprioceptive drift F(2, 19) = .33, p = .72 or for the subjective rating, F(2, 19) = .43, p = .65. However, both outcome measures showed the same trend (that the skin-to-skin touch induced the strongest illusion) and therefore we neither conclusively rejected nor confirmed our hypothesis.