15:00 - 16:30
Mon-Main hall - Z2b-Poster 1--25
Mon-Poster 1
Room: Main hall - Z2b
The rubber hand illusion as a bodily detachment reaction in response to emotional vocalizations: Evidence from a clinical study in patients with dissociative symptoms
Mon-Main hall - Z2b-Poster 1-2511
Presented by: Franziska Schroter
Franziska Schroter 1, Alexandra Otto 2, Stephanie Kandsperger 2, Romuald Brunner 2, Petra Jansen 1
1 Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Regensburg, Germany, 2 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Germany
Dissociation has been found to be connected to detached emotion experience and unstable body boundaries. For this reason, this study aimed to explore the impact of emotional vocalizations on the sense of body ownership in individuals with high and low levels of dissociative symptoms. The sample comprised 75 adolescents, including 25 healthy controls and 50 patients with non-suicidal self-injurious behavior, assigned to a low (n=25) and a high dissociation (n=25) group. First, interoceptive abilities were measured in a heartbeat detection task. Subsequently, six trials of the rubber hand illusion were performed, while participants listened to neutral, sad, or fearful vocalizations. Throughout the illusion induction and during resting baseline, physiological measures (heart rate, electrodermal activity) were recorded. Post-trial assessments included the rubber hand illusion questionnaire (RHIQ), acute dissociation, mood, and the proprioceptive drift. Results regarding the RHIQ showed that fearful vocalizations induced a stronger illusion in the low dissociation group, whereas the high dissociation group exhibited elevated illusion scores across all conditions. Additionally, positive relations emerged between illusion measures, subjective arousal, and acute dissociation. Besides, an inverted U-shaped relation was found between acute dissociation and arousal. In conclusion, our findings suggest that detached emotion experiences may lead to a higher plasticity of body boundaries which manifests in a stronger illusion.
Keywords: Rubber Hand Illusion, sense of ownership, emotion, dissociation, arousal