Enhancing motor imagery in the third-person perspective by manipulating sense of body ownership with virtual reality.
The European journal of neuroscience October 1, 2024 Xiaotian Xu, Xiaoya Fan, Jiaoyang Dong et al. 4 citations
Motor imagery (MI) training guided by virtual reality (VR) from the third-person perspective (3PP) can be enhanced by inducing a sense of body ownership over a virtual avatar. A novel paradigm used synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation to create a full-body illusion (FBI), similar to an out-of-body experience (OBE), in 31 healthy participants. Event-related electroencephalograph (EEG) desynchronization (ERD) at motor-related regions was stronger with the FBI induction compared to a control condition. The results demonstrate that eliciting body ownership from 3PP can improve the effectiveness of 3PP MI, offering new possibilities for motor rehabilitation.