2025/07/18 by Reiya Itatani, Gizem Şenel, Abdullah Topçu +1 · 1 voice
Computer Science · Psychology · #Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts #Action Observation and Synchronization #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
paper · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2025.103903
openalex publication_date 2025/07/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
• Body ownership over a rock star’s body occured when the virtual body replaced the real body in VR, in a dressing room scene • Ownership was stronger when the virtual rock star body moved synchronously with the participant compared to asynchronously • Body ownership in the prior dressing room scene led to vicarious agency during a later on-stage rock concert performance • Participants with body ownership mirrored on-stage actions like holding a guitar after prior synchronous embodiment • Synchronous embodiment led to vicarious agency and actions on stage, even with minimal control over the on-stage virtual body Illusory body ownership, the sense that a life-sized virtual body seen from first person perspective (1PP) in virtual reality (VR), is your body, is a well-established result. Previous work has demonstrated that illusory body ownership also results in vicarious agency over actions of the virtual body (VB). Moreover, how those actions are carried out influences later real life behaviour. In our study participants entered a VR depicting a dressing room before a concert performance, embodied from 1PP as the lead singer of a famous historical rock group. Their VB either moved synchronously with their own movements (n = 20), or asynchronously (n = 20). Those in the Synchronous condition had greater body ownership over the VB. Moreover, in a later appearance on stage in front of a virtual audience, those in the Synchronous condition had greater vicarious agency with respect to their VB, were more likely to adopt the guitar playing posture of the VB and carry out greater movements than those in the Asynchronous group. Hence body ownership in the context of 1PP over the VB with synchrony was associated with vicarious agency and also behaviour concomitant with the concert situation. These findings highlight the powerful impact of embodied experiences on agency and action.