The sixth finger illusion induced by palm outside stroking shows stable ownership and independence

Recently, the sixth finger illusion has been widely studied for body representation. It remains unclear how the stroking area, visual effects and the number of trials affect the illusion. We recruited 80 participants to conduct five trials by stroking the palm outside or little finger outside in conditions with and without wearing supernumerary rubber finger. The results show the stroking area has a greater impact on the intensity and independence of the illusion. And the palm outside can induce a stronger and more independent illusion. In addition, the sixth finger illusion induced by these four conditions was significantly influenced by the number of trials, and there is a significant enhancement in the intensity of the illusion induced by the palm outside as the number of trials increases. These indicate that stroking the outer lateral side of the palm can induce a relatively stronger and more independent sixth finger illusion, and the intensity of it reaches a steady state after three trials when wearing a supernumerary rubber finger and five trials when not wearing a supernumerary rubber finger. This study adds evidence to the research on multisensory integration and sensory feedback of the supernumerary robotic fingers.