title: Perspectives and possible applications of the rubber hand and virtual hand illusion in non-invasive rehabilitation: technological improvements and their consequences.
abstract: This review introduces theoretical aspects of the rubber hand illusion (RHI) and virtual hand illusion (VHI), and discusses their possible clinical applications. It also presents technical improvements regarding the realization of the RHI and VHI and their relation to rehabilitation issues. There is presently little evidence describing the value of the RHI and VHI as indices in the diagnosis or treatment of different pathologies, likely because of a lack of standardization in reporting the results of RHI and VHI studies. In contrast, a new emerging "out-of-body illusion" appears to be an interesting new approach; however, as in RHI and VHI, there are additional consequences regarding its application in clinical settings because of its technological demands. This review considers the acceptance of technology and the realization of immersion/presence in the context of virtual rehabilitation.
authors.affiliation: Institute Humans in Complex Systems, School of Applied Psychology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, 4600 Olten, Switzerland. Electronic address: oliver.christ@fhnw.ch.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Christ
authors.affiliation: Technion Virtual Reality and Neurocognition Lab, Technion City, Haifa 32000, Israel. Electronic address: miriamr@technion.ac.il.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reiner
mesh_terms: D001828:Body Image; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012408:Rubber; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012408:Rubber
keywords: Clinical application; Evaluation; Rubber hand illusion; Technology acceptance; Virtual hand illusion