How this ‘rubber hand illusion’ deceives the brain is a fascinating watch

Here’s 5 minutes well spent (seriously), a fabulous demonstration of how the ‘rubber hand illusion’ deceives the brain.

It’s just gone viral on Reddit because, well, watch.

Now we want to have a go!

And just a few of the things people were saying about it.

‘The guy was meant to be in these kinds of science demos … he has that sense of wonder that can no longer be found in many adults … yeah, science is fun!’
rainindxb

‘My nephew did that with me at a science museum. Spoiler: They do not use a real hammer there, but a relatively light plastic one. Which is good… because that idiot hit the real hand with the hammer.

‘Edit: He was 9. His mom, reading the instructions on the sign, told him “now hit the hand”.’
glyphotes

‘For once the red circle was helpful!’
kiwibirdboi

‘I find things like this really interesting, thanks for uploading.

‘Years ago as a teenager I fell over and shattered my elbow whilst walking my dog in a field. When I looked at my arm it was clearly broken and completely bent in the wrong direction.

‘I was really scared and tried to reassure myself that I would be ok by making sure I could still move my fingers, which I could. So I then tried to touch the grass and make sure I had feeling as well.

‘The weird thing was that because my arm was completely bent the wrong way, I couldn’t get my hand anywhere near the grass, in fact it was still at least a foot away from the ground, but I could still feel the grass running through my fingers as clear as day.

‘It was the strangest feeling I’ve ever had. Though sadly after being taken to hospital and having my elbow fixed I ended up with no feeling from the elbow down.

‘But even to this day when I sit down in our garden on the grass I can still get a sensation of grass running through my fingers again even when I’m not touching it and I know deep down that I have no feeling there at all.

‘Amazing what the brain can do!’
R33Gtst

To conclude …

‘I’ve got to hand it to them…that was pretty cool.’
Penguinz90

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Source Reddit u/karrantt