The Malleable-Self Experience: Transforming Body Image by Integrating Visual and Whole-Body Haptic Stimuli
The Malleable-Self Experience comprises the integration of the visual element of virtual reality (VR) with the whole-body haptic sensations of the Synesthesia X1 haptic chair*. The goal is to induce a provocative experience that expands one’s understanding of the self by creating a malleable perception of the body image. We explore the effects of visual and whole-body haptic integration on augmenting body image during dynamic transformations of visual representations of the body in VR. We design the plausibility of these perceptual augmentations using a specific sequence of multisensory events: (1) establishing body ownership of a virtual body anchored in the same self-located space as the participant, (2) separating the virtual body to hover above the participant’s physical body, enhanced by accompanying haptic stimuli to increase proprioceptive uncertainty, and (3) transforming the virtual body with integrated visuo-haptic stimuli to sustain perceptual congruency.
*Hardware and software platform developed by Synesthesia Lab
“The Malleable-Self Experience” is a VR avatar visual expression and a Whole-body haptic chair Synesthesia X1. This is an experience that combines a visual presentation and a full-body haptic presentation. The aim is to induce a sense of transformation in one’s body image and deepen one’s understanding of oneself.
This experience was designed based on three elements that combine VR avatar presentation, music, and full-body haptics:
(1) participants feel that their body and VR avatar are their own,
(2) participants continue to feel that the VR avatar, which has left the participant’s body, is a part of their body through full-body haptics, and
(3) participants feel that their body sensations are changing flexibly as the shape of the VR avatar changes in conjunction with the VR avatar presentation, music, and full-body haptics.
Through these elements, we explore how the body image is transformed and expanded by integrating visual presentation, music, and full-body haptics when the appearance of the VR avatar changes dynamically.
Project URL: https://www.embodiedmedia.org/projects/the-malleable-self-experience
Tanner Person
Nobuhisa Hanamitsu (Enhance Experience Inc. / KMD)
Danny Hynds
Sohei Wakisaka
Kota Isobe (Enhance Experience Inc.)
Leonard Mochizuki
Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Enhance Experience Inc. / KMD)
Kouta Minamizawa
https://s2024.conference-program.org/presentation/?id=gensub_256&sess=sess213
Tanner Person, Nobuhisa Hanamitsu, Danny Hynds, Sohei Wakisaka, Kota Isobe, Leonard Mochizuki, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, and Kouta Minamizawa. 2024. The Malleable-Self Experience: Transforming Body Image by Integrating Visual and Whole-Body Haptic Stimuli. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2024 Emerging Technologies (SIGGRAPH ’24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 20, 1–2.https://doi.org/10.1145/3641517.3664385