Out-Of-Virtual-Body Experiences: Virtual Disembodiment Effects on Time Perception in VR

This paper presents a novel experiment investigating the relationship between virtual disembodiment and time perception in Virtual Reality (VR). Recent work demonstrated that the absence of a virtual body in a VR application changes the perception of time. However, the effects of simulating an out-of-body experience (OBE) in VR on time perception are still unclear. We designed an experiment with two types of virtual disembodiment techniques based on viewpoint gradual transition: a virtual body’s behind view and facing view transitions. We investigated their effects on forty-four participants in an interactive scenario where a lamp was repeatedly activated and time intervals were estimated. Our results show that, while both techniques elicited a significant virtual disembodiment perception, time duration estimations in the minute range were only shorter in the facing view compared to the eye view condition. We believe that reducing agency in the facing view is a key factor in the time perception alteration. This provides first steps towards a novel approach to manipulating time perception in VR, with potential applications for mental health treatments such as schizophrenia or depression and for improving our understanding of the relation between body, virtual body, and time.