A Three-Dimensional Evaluation of Body Representation Change of Human Upper Limb Focused on Sense of Ownership and Sense of Agency

To develop more effective and efficient rehabilitation therapies for certain disease which are linked to a mismatch between the real body and the body representation, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying the changes in body representation. We focused on the changes in the body representation of the upper limb as a large part of the body and conducted a three-dimensional evaluation of body representation change of human upper limb. The participants were subjected to four conditions relative to sense of ownership and sense of agency. In the experiment, the participants with head mounted display were required to make circular movements in front of motion capture system. We found that the change of the body representation of the elbow occur only with sense of agency and the change occur only in the direction of Z axis.