“Neuroscientists at Federal Polytechnic of Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland demonstrate how you can trick your brain by stroking a fake rubber hand and your real hand at the same time.

About 10 years ago, psychologists in Pennsylvania discovered an amazing illusion. They found that they could convince people that a rubber hand was their own by putting it on a table in front of them while stroking it in the same way as their real hand.

The now-famous “rubber hand illusion” was not only a mind-blowing party trick, it was also hugely important in understanding how sight, touch and “proprioception” – the sense of body position – combine to create a convincing feeling of body ownership, one of the foundations of self-consciousness.”

More info:

Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience – http://lnco.epfl.ch/