Body-Swapping Experiments

I feel absolutely terrible today. I don’t know what I’ve come down with, but I’m totally miserable. I’ve sent an email to my boss requesting a sick day. While waiting to hear back from her, and cruising around the intertubes, I came across this interesting article under Strange News at Live Science.

What an odd coincidence for someone who wishes she could switch bodies with someone today:

Strange Experiments Create Body-Swapping Experiences
Robin Lloyd, Senior Editor

Scientists now have manipulated people’s perceptions to make them think they have swapped bodies with another human or even a “humanoid body,” experiencing the sensations that the other would feel and giving the illusion of being inside the other’s body.

The bizarre achievement hearkens to body swaps portrayed on numerous TV shows and movies such as “Freaky Friday” and “All of Me.”

In real life, the cognitive neuroscientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet succeeded in making subjects perceive the bodies of mannequins and other people as their own. The illusion also worked even when the two people differed in appearance or were of different sexes. It also worked whether the subject was immobile or was making voluntary movements. However, it was not possible to fool the subjects into identifying with a non-humanoid object, such as a chair or a large block.

Full Article

No problem — I already feel like a large block. Or something.

Maybe my boss has written back by now.
Update: Sick day approved. I’m going to back to bed.

Posted by Lottie — Copyright © 2008 Rambling On

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