
Multisensory stimulation has been shown to alter the sense of body-ownership. Given that perceived similarity between one's own body and those of others is crucial for social cognition, we investigated whether multisensory stimulation can lead participants to experience ownership over a hand of different skin colour. Results from two studies using introspective, behavioural and physiological methods show that, following synchronous visuotactile (VT) stimulation, participants can experience body-ownership over hands that seem to belong to a different racial group. Interestingly, a baseline measure of implicit racial bias did not predict whether participants would experience the RHI, but the overall strength of experienced body-ownership seemed to predict the participants' post-illusion implicit racial bias with those who experienced a stronger RHI showing a lower bias. These findings suggest that multisensory experiences can override strict ingroup/outgroup distinctions based on skin colour and point to a key role for sensory processing in social cognition.
Adult, Male, Ownership, Racial Groups, Skin Pigmentation, Galvanic Skin Response, Proprioception, Illusions, Self Concept, Judgment, Young Adult, Body Image, Visual Perception, Humans, Female, Prejudice
Adult, Male, Ownership, Racial Groups, Skin Pigmentation, Galvanic Skin Response, Proprioception, Illusions, Self Concept, Judgment, Young Adult, Body Image, Visual Perception, Humans, Female, Prejudice
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