The ambiguous feeling between “mine” and “not-mine” measured by integrated information theory during rubber hand illusion

Abstract

Abstract Human body awareness is adaptive to context changes. The illusory sense of body ownership has been studied since the publication of the rubber hand illusion, where ambiguous body ownership feeling was first defined. Phenomenologically, the ambiguous body ownership is attributed to a conflict between feeling and judgement: it characterises a discrepancy between first- and third-person processes. Although Bayesian inference can explain this malleability of body image, it still fails to relate the subjective feeling to physiological data. This study attempts to explain subjective experience during rubber hand illusions by using integrated information theory (IIT). The integrated information $$\Phi$$ Φ in IIT measures the difference between the whole system and its subsystems. By analysing seven different time-series of physiological data representing a small body–brain system, we demonstrate that the integrity of the whole system during the illusion decreases, while the integrity of its subsystems increases. These general tendencies agree with many brain-image analyses and subjective reports; furthermore, we found that subjective ratings as ambiguous body ownership were associated with $$\Phi$$ Φ . Our result suggests that IIT can explain the general tendency of the sense of ownership illusions and individual differences in subjective experience during the illusions.