The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake

by Steven Novella

This construction can be disrupted, which results in an out-of-body sensation. Some drugs can do this, as can seizures in certain parts of the brain, or even just some easy trickery. Researchers have found that it is actually quite simple to get people to feel as if they are inside a virtual body or a prop body rather than their own. The setup is straightforward: Wear virtual reality goggles that are being fed real-time video from a camera behind you. This way you are seeing the back of yourself. Someone then touches the back of your shoulder. You see the virtual image in front of you being touched while simultaneously feeling the touch. This is enough for your brain to construct the sensation that you occupy the virtual image of yourself rather than your actual body.