Embodied time and the out-of-body experience of the self.

People who experienced an out-of-body illusion in virtual reality judged time intervals as longer when they felt a stronger sense of body ownership over a mannequin. Participants viewed a mannequin's arm as if it were their own while receiving synchronous or asynchronous strokes on their actual body. After synchronous stroking, they felt touches on the mannequin more intensely and estimated the interval between two touches as longer. The more pronounced the out-of-body experience, the greater the time distortion. These results suggest that awareness of the body-self is important for time perception, supporting the theory of embodied time.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Using an out-of-body paradigm, the present study provided further empirical evidence for the theory of embodied time by suggesting that the body-self plays a key role in time judgments. Looking through virtual reality glasses, the participants saw the arm of a mannequin instead of their own arm. They had to judge the duration of the interval between two (perceived) touches applied to the mannequin's body after a series of strokes had been viewed being made to the mannequin and tactile strokes had been administered to the participants themselves. These strokes were administered either synchronously or asynchronously. During the interval, a pleasant (touch with a soft paintbrush) or an unpleasant stimulation (touch with a pointed knife) was applied to the mannequin. The results showed that the participants felt the perceived tactile stimulations in their own bodies more strongly after the synchronous than the asynchronous stroking condition, a finding which is consistent with the out-of-body illusion. In addition, the interval duration was judged longer in the synchronous than in the asynchronous condition. This time distortion increased the greater the individual out-of-body experience was. Our results therefore highlight the importance of the awareness of the body-self in the processing of time, i.e., the significance of embodied time.