Virtual Embodiment: Implications and applications of self-avatars in immersive virtual environments

Virtual embodiment is an emerging area of virtual-reality research in which the participant in an immersive virtual environment is presented with a co-located virtual representation of a body. Viewing this self-avatar from a first-person perspective display elicits in the participant the illusion that the virtual body is in fact their own body. We provide an introduction to virtual-embodiment research, a brief overview of the work we were involved with in this area during our recent two-year stay with Mel Slater's lab at the University of Barcelona, and discuss potential applications and implications of this research.