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Testing out the rubber hand illusion in the office to see if people can feel pain in fake limbs

Master Blaster Feb 21, 2024
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Science is violence.

The rubber hand illusion is a famous experiment exploring the phenomenon of body transfer in which a person can be made to feel as if something external or illusionary is a part of their own body. In a viral video demonstrating it, subjects appear to experience pain when a rubber hand they think is really theirs is hit with a gavel.

▼ The papers read “fake hand” and “real hand” in case you were unsure which is which

Upon seeing this video, our writer Masanuki Sunakoma thought it would be fun to try on his co-workers in the hopes they’ll cry on camera. So, he got the necessary props together and called in his first victim Go Hatori.

A few weeks back, Go already demonstrated himself to be open to suggestion when he fell for the old “bloody head in the refrigerator” prank. If this experiment worked according to plan, Go would be certain to give everyone watching a great reaction.

First, Go put on a shirt, and a matching shirt was draped over a rubber hand to give the illusion that it was his. Meanwhile, his real left hand rested behind a divider, out of his eyesight… At least, it should be out of eyesight in theory but it looks like he can see his real hand quite easily with this setup.

Then, to create the body transfer illusion, Masanuki gently stroked Go’s hand with a takoyaki stick while also stroking the rubber hand with another takoyaki stick. The movements need to be in perfect sync for the illusion to take hold.

After Masanuki felt enough time had passed, he then quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and thrust them into the rubber hand.

▼ Masanuki: “Harghhhh!”

▼ Go: “…”

Go seemed rather startled, and possibly even shocked, but he didn’t appear to be in any pain. His stunned silence would probably have been the same if Masanuki had violently stabbed the wood of the table right in front of his face.

The only thing Masanuki could do was write that off as “warming up” and try again with a different test subject.

This time, Yuichiro Wasai was rigged up with the rubber hand and stroked with takoyaki flippers.

▼ Masanuki: “Hai-ya!”
Yuichiro: “…”

It was almost exactly the same silent response he got from Go. Actually, Yuichiro seemed a little sleepy as Masanuki savagely thrust his blades into the rubber hand.

Our writer wondered if it was because Go and Yuichiro both trained in martial arts. Perhaps all that training gave them a heightened awareness of their bodies and steelier nerves than the average person. So, this time he decided to go after his everyman colleagues Ahiruneko and P.K. Sanjun.

▼ Masanuki: “Gyarrgh!”
Ahiruneko: “…”

▼ Masanuki: “Take that, you son of a!”
P.K.: “…”

Our researcher was getting frustrated and confused as to why this wasn’t working. One theory was that both men just happened to be numb in their left hands. Masanuki also couldn’t rule out the possibility they were just laughing to cover up the extreme pain they were really experiencing.

His last chance was to try this on fellow writer Takashi Harada, who’s known to be one of the most skittish people in the office. Masanuki was hesitant to do this on him because he’s so sensitive he might pee his pants during the stroking part.

But Masanuki was so desperate he was willing to clean up some urine as long as he could get this to work just once.

▼ Takashi: “Oh, hey! That tingles…”
Masanuki: “Yes, just relax and…”

▼ Masanuki: “Harghhhhhh!!!”

▼ Masanuki: “Die! Die! Die!”

▼ Takashi: “Sorry man, that just doesn’t hu-urk!”

▼ Masanuki: “Arrrrrrgh!”

▼ Takashi: “OUCH!”

▼ Takashi: “…”

In conclusion, Masanuki was finally able to elicit a pain response from one of his subjects, proving that the body transfer illusion was real.

▼ The experiment is currently being peer-reviewed

It just goes to show that science sometimes requires hard work, and you really need to put your back into it to achieve the results you’re looking for.

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