Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2026

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Program

Cognitive Neuroscience

Advisor

Richard Brown

Subject Categories

Cognitive Neuroscience

Keywords

consciousness, emotion, self

Abstract

This study investigated whether adopting an out-of-body perspective in virtual reality (VR) reduces subjective and physiological emotional responses to vicarious pain stimuli compared to inhabiting a first-person embodied avatar. Twenty-four participants experienced two counterbalanced VR conditions: (1) Avatar Embodiment (AV), in which they inhabited a photorealistic avatar from a first-person perspective, and (2) a Virtual Out-of-Body Experience (vOBE), in which they observed their avatar from a displaced third-person perspective. In both conditions, participants viewed a standardized series of vicarious pain images while electrodermal activity was recorded and self-report measures of embodiment (AV) and disembodiment (the vOBE state), emotional intensity (a multi-item questionnaire), and emotional impact (a single item questionnaire) were collected. Results showed that embodiment was strong in both conditions, confirming the effectiveness of the illusions. As predicted, subjective emotional responses diverged by perspective: participants reported significantly higher emotional intensity and impact in AV compared to vOBE. Descriptively, emotional intensity ratings were 0.87 points higher in AV, with two-thirds of participants endorsing stronger negative reactions when embodied. Inferentially, a paired-sample t-test indicated the mean difference was 0.72 (with t(23) = 2.60, p = .016). Participants also reported feeling physically “heavier” in AV and “lighter” in vOBE, and those who described the avatar as “a body over there” (rather than “my body”, signifying a lessened sense of ownership) during vOBE showed the greatest reductions in emotional impact. In contrast, physiological measures revealed no significant differences in mean SCR amplitude between conditions. Together, these findings indicate a dissociation between subjective experience and physiological arousal. Finally, here, “less self” refers to a diminished sense of being located in and identified with one’s body, as induced by the vOBE. This reduction in bodily self-presence was associated with weaker negative emotional responses. Further, in this context, “fear” is used as a shorthand for emotional discomfort or negatively valenced affective states (e.g., unease, distress, aversion) rather than clinical fear per se. The results support the central hypothesis that less self can mean less fear, highlighting the potential of VR-based perspective shifts as tools for emotion regulation and therapeutic intervention.

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