身體意象是個體在意識層面對與身體有關的知覺、態度及信念，它的穩定性與可塑性一直存在爭論。本研究使用方位追蹤儀、數據手套及投影儀，通過2個實驗考查虛擬手錯覺中距離參照系對身體擁有感的影響。實驗1在虛擬環境中采用經典橡膠手錯覺的變式，考察同步性和虛擬手位置對擁有感的影響;實驗2引入距離參照系，考察在不同參照條件下被試對同一個位置的虛擬手在不同同步情況下的擁有感錯覺。研究結果發現:(1)無論是同步性還是距離都會對虛擬手錯覺中的擁有感產生影響，即同步比不同步條件下、距離近比距離遠條件下擁有感顯著;(2)不同的距離參照系對同一位置的擁有感體驗影響差異顯著，先近后遠的呈現方式會減弱錯覺而先遠后近的呈現方式則會加強錯覺。這一發現與身體擁有感是受穩定的身體意象調節的假設并不一致。

Body image consists of a system of perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs pertaining to one’s own. The appearance of one’s own body "from the outside", is thought to be an important component of body image, therefore many studies focus on the visual perceptual component of body image. The controversies concerning body image are not only between nature and nurture, but also about its stability. On the one hand, body image seems to play an important role whenever we need to recognize ourselves, it is easy for us to take it as a stable representation of our body. On the other hand, the studies of amputees who experience phantom limbs suggested a sense that one’s body image is itself a "phantom", so it is also reasonable to think body image as something that is at least plastic. The rubber hand illusion(RHI) paradigm seems to be one of the appropriate ways to investigate this controversy about body image, since it could induce the experience of an artificial body part as becoming a real body part among normal people. This illusion was first reported by Botvinick and Cohen who placed a rubber hand in front of participants whose corresponding real hand was hidden from sight. When the real hand and the visible rubber hand were stroked in a synchronous fashion, participants reported to experience the rubber hand as being a part of their body. Studies concerning the factors affect the induction or reduction of RHI suggested that the RHI depends not only on synchronous stimulations, but also on the match between the rubber hand and pre-existing body images. However, till now, no studies have combined top-down and bottom-up to seek the answer for the plasticity of body image. In the present study, we adopted distance reference as a new factor to investigate the plasticity of body image. Our study included two experiments both of which were performed in a virtual environment. In the first experiment, we simulated the traditional rubber hand illusion to determine the influences of synchronicity and location on bodily sense of ownership in our setups. It was a 2-factorial between-participants design. The two factors were synchronicity(synchronous vs. asynchronous) and distance(near vs. far). In the second experiment, we introduced distance reference frame to investigate how participants felt differently about the virtual hand inthe same location, while there were different distance reference frames. There were two between-participants factors: synchronicity(synchronous vs. asynchronous) and distance reference frame(near-middle vs. far-middle). The near-middle reference frame was: participants experienced the middle position condition right after the near position condition; while the far-middle reference frame was: participants experienced the middle position condition right after the far position condition. The following results and conclusions were found by our study:(1) under normal situations, synchronicity and distance played an important role on our perception of ownership. People perceived more ownership whenever there were synchronous visuo-tactile stimulations than asynchronous ones, and also, more ownership when the virtual hand was right in front of them than in an anatomical impossible position.(2) Distance reference frame influenced peoples’ perception on their own body, the size of the ownership illusion varied as a function of relative, rather than absolute location of the virtual hand. Our result suggests a considerable degree plasticity of body image underlying our body ownership.